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Attendance

Students at CHOICE will be expected to be in attendance or to have a pre-established work plan designed with their proposal team.

CHOICE Technical Academy believes that regular school attendance is directly related to success in academics, benefits the student socially, provides opportunities for important communications between staff and students, and establishes regular habits of dependability important to the future of the student.

If a student will be absent from school, the parent/guardian must call the school at 507-400-4009 or email attendance@choiceta.org. Please leave the absent student's first name, last name, a reason for the absence, and a phone number where you can be reached. 

An absence may be excused for the following reasons: Please communicate with us

1. Illness/injury/surgery
2. Mental Health/Medical/Dental appointments (must provide a note from the doctor verifying time/date of the appointment)
3. Religious activities
4. Family emergencies/funerals
5. Pre-planned approved family vacations
6. Suspensions
7. Court appearances

Absences considered unexcused are:

1. Truancy
2. Failure to recieve an advisor's approval for off-site work
3. Leaving early or being out of the building without signing out
4. Excessive and unapproved family vacations
5. Illnesses without a doctor's note
6. Any other absence not included in the excused section of this policy 

Tardies

All students are expected to be at school by 8:00 a.m., and will be considered tardy if they arrive after. Tardies for the following reasons are excused and the student will be marked present upon arrival: 

1. Medical/Dental Emergencies
2. Religious Activities
3. Family Emergencies/Funerals
4. Court Appearances
5. Written plan with the school

Three (3) unexcused tardies are equivalent to one unexcused absence. 

Staff will make an effort to notify parents/guardians of all unexcused absences as soon as possible. If a student should accumulate:

• 3 unexcused absences, the parent will be notified by letter
• 5 unexcused absences, a conference must be held and the student will be referred to ARB (Attendance Review Board) 

The ARB is part of Steele County's three-tiered student accountability system, and is coupled with Steele County Human Services and the Steele County Attorney's office. The county attorney's office staff works with parents, teachers, counselors, and students to understand and improve attendance, and ultimately, academic performance.

If attendance is not taken seriously and school work is not completed, following 15 unexcused absences, the student will be dropped from the school and will need to complete a full admissions packet in order to re-enroll with the District.

Click here for our full attendance policy.

A child will be sent home with a temperature above 100 degrees. If a child has a temperature above 100 degrees, vomits or has diarrhea within the past 24 hours, please do not send him/her to school.

Lunch

Students may not leave campus for lunch unless they are 11th or 12th graders with parent/guardian permission. All students may have food delivered during lunchtime hours. 

Students may not use water fountains to drink from, but may use the provided Culligan water. We encourage all students to bring a refillable water bottle, and all new students are provided with one (1) reusable CHOICE bottle. 

Food & Beverage

We take pride in our learning community and desire a clean and healthy facility to support learning. The following guidelines are developed to support this clean and healthy environment: 

• Beverages in advisory spaces are limited to water, tea, or coffee. All other beverages must be consumed in the common area during lunch.
• Please do not consume energy drinks at school.
• Snack foods must be consumed in the common area during lunch.
• All containers containing food must be cleaned up daily. If food is consumed at desks, desks must be wiped down and the floor vacuumed by the student daily.

Field Trips

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Visitors & Volunteers

CHOICE encourages visits by citizens and parents in accordance with reasonable procedures to control such visits.

To ensure that student learning remains a priority, we ask that the following steps are taken: 

• All visitors must sign in at the office and wear a visitor pass every time they arrive. 
• All volunteers must sign in at the office and wear a volunteer pass every time they arrive. .

To learn more about volunteering and getting involved, please click here! Or, to view our full building visitor policy, click here.

Phone/Device Usage

School Phone:

Phones are to be used for emergency and educational purposes only. Messages will be taken for incoming calls and students may return calls during lunch or after school. Students wishing to use the phone need to receive staff permission. 

Cell Phone/Device:

Cell phones and devices are to be used to enhance the learning experience only. If staff/parents determine that device use is detracting from learning or causing a disruption in our community, the following guidelines will be followed on request of student congress.

• 1ST INSTANCE: A reminder is given.
• 2ND INSTANCE: The device is taken away for the day and parents are notified. 
• 3RD INSTANCE: The device is turned in or stays at home for a week (5 school days). Parents are notified and a conference will be scheduled.

Please note:

• Staff and parents reserve the right to skip any of these steps in the case of serious infractions or distractions.
• If students refuse to follow this procedure, a parent/guardian will be contacted to bring the student home for the day.
• If behavior continues, a conference will be scheduled and a behavior plan will be created. 

Clothing Standards

CHOICE Technical Academy encourages students to dress appropriately for school activities and in keeping with community standards and academic priorities. As we prepare students for careers, we ask that students and parents reflect on the image a student wishes to project. 

We bring the community into our school and encourage students to make connections. You never know when a simple day of school can become a job or internship interview. We ask that students represent our community well in your clothing.

When clothing has a negative impact on our community, students will be asked to cover the clothing up. 

Inappropriate clothing includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1. Clothing which bears a message that is lewd, vulgar, or obscene.
2. Apparent promoting products or activities that are illegal to use by minors. 
3. Objectionable emblems, signs, words, objects, or pictures on clothing communicating a message that may be interpreted as racist, sexist, or otherwise derogatory, or which connotates gang membership. 
4. Clothing that does not adequately fit or cover the body, such an excessive midriff, excessive cleavage, lack of coverage on legs, or sagging pants.

It is not the intention of this policy to abridge the rights of students to express political, religious, philosophical, or similar opinions by wearing apparel on which such messages are stated. Such messages are acceptable as long as they are not lewd, vulgar, obscene, defamatory, profane, or distracting to the academic environment as determined by CHOICE staff.

Fragrance:

Student congress requests that students to not wear excessive fragrance to school nor apply products (lotions, sprays) containing fragrance during the school day. Students may be asked to work away from the student body if fragrance is disruptive to students or staff.

Environmental Awareness

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