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General Attendance Requirements

All children who reach five (5) years of age on or before September 30th of the current school year are considered school-aged and must attend school on time every day until they meet high school graduation requirements or reach their 18th birthday. Once pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) children are enrolled as DCPS students they are expected to follow the same attendance policies as school-aged students, including attending school on time every day.

Excused Absences and Required Documentation A written note must be provided to the school by the student’s parent or guardian prior to an absence or within five (5) school days after the student’s return to school for an absence to be excused.

Excused Absences

• Illness of the student (a doctor’s note is required for a student absent five or more consecutive days).
• Medical or dental appointments for the student.
• Death in the student’s immediate family.
• Exclusion by direction of the authorities of the District of Columbia, due to quarantine, contagious disease, infection, infestation, or other condition requiring separation from other students for medical or health reasons.
• Necessity for a student to attend a judicial proceeding or court-ordered activity, as a party to the action or under subpoena.
• Observance of a religious holiday.
• Absences to allow students to visit their parent who is in the military, immediately before, during, or after deployment.
• An emergency or other circumstance approved by DCPS.
• College visits for students in 9th through 12th grades (up to three cumulative days in a school year).
• Absences of expectant or parenting students for a time period specified by their doctor and any accommodations mandated by law.
• Take Our Children to Work Day.
• Religious events or celebrations outside of a religious holiday (up to five cumulative days in a school year).
• Temporary closing of facilities or suspension of classes due to severe weather, official activities, holidays, malfunctioning equipment, unsafe or unsanitary conditions, or other condition(s) or emergency requiring a school closing or suspension of classes.
• Failure of the District of Columbia to provide transportation in cases where the District of Columbia has a legal responsibility for the transportation of the student.

Unexcused Absence

• Cutting Class
• Doing Errands
• Shopping
• Vacation
• Oversleeping
• Visiting Family

Procedures for Excused Absences

• All excuse notes and early dismissals must be submitted online at www.jacksonreedhs.org. Click on QUICKLINKS and then click on “Attendance Form”. You will need to know your student’s ID Number to complete the form.

Procedures Dismissals

• All early dismissal must be submitted must be submitted online at www.jacksonreedhs.org.
• Parents can start submitting dismissals at 8:00 am with the student’s full name, ID number, time of dismissal, and parent contact information. If the parent cannot be reached with the number that is in Aspen, the student will not be able to leave the building.

Required Documentation

A parent or guardian’s written note is sufficient to document any absence of up to four (4) consecutive days. Any such absence will be excused if it falls under one of the excused absence reasons noted above. If a student is absent for five (5) or more consecutive days, further documentation is required beyond communication by the parent for the absence to be excused as follows:

• Medical or dental absences: Written explanation of the student’s absence must be submitted by a doctor or staff of a relevant agency on official doctor/dentist office letterhead and signed by a relevant official.
• Judicial proceedings: A student’s required presence at judicial proceedings must be established by a document from the court stating the need for the student’s presence on all the relevant dates.
• Death in the student’s immediate family: Funeral programs may be accepted as appropriate documentation.
• Quarantine documentation requirements and exceptions for 5 or more days of consecutive absence Students required to quarantine at the direction of DCPS.

Attendance-Grading-Promotion

• Secondary students with ten (10) unexcused absences in any class shall receive an initial written notice that they are at risk of receiving a grade of “FA” (failure due to absences) in that subject upon accumulating more than thirty (30) unexcused absences unless an exception applies.
• Secondary students with fifteen (15) unexcused absences in any class shall receive an additional written warning that they are at risk of receiving a grade of “FA” (failure due to absences) in that subject upon accumulating more than thirty (30) unexcused absences.
• Secondary students accumulating more than thirty (30) unexcused absences in a course within a full school year shall receive a failing final grade in that course with a resulting loss of course credit.
• Students accumulating more than thirty (30) unexcused absences within a school year shall only be promoted if a written justification is submitted by the principal to the Chancellor, or the student attends summer school and is reevaluated for promotion.

• Shoes must be worn at all times.
• Clothing displaying logos or advertisements must be free of profanity, drugs, alcohol or tobacco products; violent messages; sexual messages; gang symbols or references; or language that demeans an identifiable person or group.
• Undergarments must not be visible when walking, sitting or standing.
• Jewelry cannot be worn that is perceived as dangerous, violent or promoting inappropriate themes. Heavy chains, bracelets, and necklaces that have spikes are not permitted.

Hats and Headgear

• Wearing hats and headgear in the school is considered a safety issue.

Shirts

• No midriff shirts, muscle shirts, blouses, or tops that allow skin to be exposed either on the upper torso or the back are permitted.
  Tops with spaghetti straps, tube tops, halter tops, muscle shirts, and colored or white tank tops must be worn as undergarments only. A sweater, shirt, or jacket must be worn over such items.
• No tank tops, low-cut necklines, off-the-shoulder shirts, strapless, or body-tight spandex tops may be worn alone. Shirts must cover the shoulders, back, front, and midriff area.
• Transparent or see-through clothing is not allowed.

Pants

• Pants may not be worn low so that they show undergarments or skin or look as if they are about to fall off. Pants must be secure at the waist.
• If distressed or torn pants are worn, the person wearing them must have tights under them so as not to expose the skin.

Shorts, skirts, and dresses

• Shorts, skirts, and dresses must be appropriate, neither too short nor too revealing.
• Slits in shorts, skirts, and dresses must not extend higher than mid-thigh.

Policy for Violations of the Dress Guidelines

• Stopped at the front door and given the option to change his/her clothes.
• Given the option of calling his/her parent for a change of clothes to be brought to the school.
• Given appropriate clothing to wear for the day

Fire Drill Procedures

• The fire drill is indicated by the sound of the fire alarm.
• The teacher will close all windows and doors. Do not lock any doors.
• The teacher directs the class to the nearest stairway and exit door.
• Scholars should proceed directly outside.  They are not allowed to stop at lockers.
• Scholars and teachers should move quickly and quietly to their designated positions.
• Roll is taken and turned into the appropriate administrator.

Bomb-Scare Procedures

• All personnel will be notified of a threat via the public address system.
• All personnel should follow the fire drill procedures listed above.

Lockdown Drills

• DCPS requires that two lockdown drills be held per school year.

Evacuation and Relocation Procedures

• The evacuation of the building will be exactly the same procedure as followed in a fire drill.
• Notification will be given by an administrator to proceed to Deal Middle School as students leave the building.
• Deal administrators will provide directions to the holding areas for Wilson students and staff.
• Teachers are to remain with their classes until the situation is resolved.

• Eating is allowed in the cafeteria, designated areas of the atrium, stadium seating and the rose garden.
• Food and drink (with the exception of water) is not permitted in the halls, gymnasium, stairwells, stadium field, media center, or auditorium.
• Jackson-Reed High School, as part of DCPS, is a drug-, alcohol- and tobacco-free campus.
• Students may not take cafeteria trays into the stadium seating.
• Bag lunches and other food or drink may not be taken to a classroom unless invited to by a teacher.
• Students with off-campus lunch privileges may not bring outside food or drink into the school campus.
• Students are expected to clean up after themselves by putting all waste into the proper receptacles and returning their trays to the tables indicated for tray return in the cafeteria.
• Please keep Jackson-Reed clean and green by disposing of breakfast and lunch waste into the proper containers–compostable food waste recyclables and trash.

To ensure the safety of all who use the athletic locker room, staff, coaches, and students must follow these guidelines:

• Doors opening into the athletic teams’ locker room MUST be locked during school hours.
• No student is allowed in the team locker rooms ANYTIME before 3:15 pm.

After School Hours

• The only athletes allowed in the locker rooms are the athletes whose teams are currently playing.
• NO athlete is to be left unattended in the locker room for any reason at any time to ensure the safety and security of the athlete.
• As a preventative measure, any administrator, coach, dean, or teacher may conduct a hall/gym/locker room sweep of the entire athletic wing to ensure these guidelines are being followed.

Discipline Protocol

• 1st Verbal Warning
• 2nd Verbal Warning
• Written Documentation
• Locker Room Keys Revoked

Juniors and seniors, based on their academic performance and May 2024 PARCC participation, will be able to earn off-campus lunch privileges for all eligible terms. Sophomores will be able to earn off-campus lunch privileges for the 4th term only. The following are the requirements to qualify for off-campus lunch:

Procedures

• Once you apply for off-campus lunch and are granted permission to participate in the program, you only have to complete one application for the year.  If you do not meet the requirements for off-campus lunch at the end of a term, you will lose your off-campus lunch privileges until your term average meets the requirements.  Those students whose academic standing changes after the conclusion of a term do not need to re-apply, but parents may need to verify online. Permission will not be granted to students without final parent/guardian online verification.
• One Card ID Highly Recommended.   We strongly request that you USE YOUR DC One Card ID FOR OFF-CAMPUS LUNCH! The lines can be long and scanning the card is faster than entering an ID number.
• All students must be re-screened at security when entering the building.
• They must re-enter the school by 12:30 pm after lunch.
• They may only go to businesses one block to the north and one block to the south on Wisconsin Avenue
• They must cross at the cross walks and obey all pedestrian signals

Revocation of Off-Campus Lunch Privileges

• Privilege revoked for a designated period of time if a student:
  • Fails to return or returns late for the class (normally period 03 or PD 04) after STEP (one unexcused absence = removal for one term; 3 tardies = removal two weeks; 4 tardies = removal for one term)
  • Is no longer eligible for off-camps lunch due to the student’s term GPA. However the privilege will be re-instated if student becomes eligible at the end of a subsequent term.
  • Is suspended at any point during the term
  • Sophomores: If ISA rate drops below 87% within Term 4
• Privilege revoked for the entire year if a student:
  • Gives his/her ID information to another student to access off-campus privileges
  • Participates in any illegal activities during the lunch period

Breakfast, fresh-fruit-and-vegetable snack, after-school snack, and supper are universally free for DCPS students. DCPS students who are classified as free or reduced, or who attend a Provision 2 or Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) school, will receive a lunch at no charge to the student.

Student Meal Payment

1. By paying with a credit or debit card at myschoolbucks.com, an online prepayment service. You’ll be able to set up SMART PAY to automatically add money to an account whenever it reaches a low balance, and receive low balance notifications to remind you when funds are low.
2. By sending a check or money order made payable to the DC Treasurer to the following address (include the student’s DC One Card ID#):