Attendance Letter Maintenance

Attendance letters are processed and sent to guardians when students meet a certain number of absences or tardies. Once a student reaches a threshold, the system creates an attendance record and you can print, download, post to Family Access and Student Access, or save the attendance letter and send it to the student's guardian.

You can create a scheduled task that runs the attendance letter process at a set day and time. This automatically generates attendance letters for students who have met any thresholds. If a student reaches the threshold set for unexcused absences, you can set the Grace Period in the scheduled task to allow time for the student to bring in a note excusing them of the absence. For example, if the student brings in a doctor's note, you can change the attendance record, which returns the student's attendance to below the threshold to prevent an attendance letter from being generated.

You can configure translations for attendance letters as needed. The box for Always Create Default Translation can be checked in the Entity Group Year Configuration of the Attendance module. If the box is checked, when a threshold is met and an attendance letter is generated, a student can have multiple letters sent: one letter in the translation and another in the default language.

You can also configure discipline records to be created when an attendance letter is generated. For example, if a student meets the threshold for unexcused tardies, the system can automatically create a discipline record for serving detention.

Once attendance letters are generated, you cannot delete them. You can view and download attendance letters by navigating to Menu > Administrative Access > Student and selecting Student Profile under Features. Then, you must select the Attendance tab group at the left of the screen and select the Attendance Letters sub-tab. If, as in the example above, the student reaches the threshold and then brings in a doctor's note excusing them, you can still change the attendance record to return their attendance to below the threshold even if an attendance letter has already been generated. In this case, the Active and Counts toward Threshold boxes for that attendance letter in the Attendance Letters sub-tab of the Student Profile automatically become unchecked. When a student's attendance record counting toward an attendance letter is modified or deleted, the student threshold will change to an out of date status and the letter will no longer display in Family Access and Student Access. A Skyward-loaded scheduled task will recalculate out of date attendance letters and is scheduled to run daily every 15 minutes. If the student still meets the threshold, a new attendance letter will be created. If the student no longer meets the threshold, the existing attendance letter will be deactivated.