Virtual Academy Attendance Policies
Unlike many other remote/at-home educational opportunities, the TPS Virtual Academy delivers live instruction during school hours. This allows for our state-accredited teachers to interact with our students in real-time. As such, attendance at live/remote instruction during school hours is mandatory, and is recorded by faculty/staff in the same manner as is traditionally recorded in traditional “brick and mortar” schools.
The TPS Virtual Academy experience takes place almost entirely outside a regular school building; therefore, accountability of student activities and participation is measured by the reporting of the educational learning hours engaged in by the Student. Ohio community school law requires children to receive a minimum of 920 hours of learning opportunities per school year and, as such, attendance is measured in this manner. Attendance is tracked via a combination of reports automatically generated by the TPS Virtual Academy Learning Management System, and other methods as dictated by the school.
* Students must log into the systems for the required number of hours daily as directed using TPS issued chromebook. Attendance is defined as student participating and/or responding to teacher prompts. If a student does not respond to a teacher’s prompt the student is not viewed as being present. When the teacher requires the camera to be on and the student refuses to have the camera on, that is also viewed as non-attending.
* It is required that students are engaged and actively participating in school work each day. Students should be logged into the online learning platform, completing lessons, and attending live sessions as instructed by teachers. If students are not maintaining the expected level of engagement or not maintaining expected course progress students may be prevented from participating in school sponsored activities.
* Live session attendance is critical to student success in the online classroom. It is required that all students attend all live class offerings on a daily basis in order to interact with teachers and receive instruction and practice.
***Students must show up for District and State mandated in-person testing at designated locations on assigned days.
Failure to log into the system for the required number of hours per week, and/or report for assigned in-person testing, constitutes an unexcused absence for the student. Students must attend school on all official school days (including testing days), attend all live instruction sessions, and complete all assignments in a timely manner in accordance with stated class schedules.
Parents/Guardians must provide the School with written notes documenting why absences should be excused, within 3 days of the absence date. All communications regarding student attendance should be directed via email to [email protected] or (419) 671-5101.