Miami-Dade Online Academy (MDO) follows the district’s policy on attendance. An MDO student who has attained the age of six years is required to attend school regularly during the entire school term according to Compulsory School Attendance §1003.21. The school district must verify student attendance; therefore, students are expected to log-in every school day and complete the appropriate work for each class.
- Attendance: At Miami-Dade Online Academy, students are expected to be in school five days a week for six hours a day working on each course every day. No absences are accepted due to the virtual school flexibility. Every minute a student spends on their approved Miami-Dade Online Academy courses doing schoolwork online or offline, the time accrues into the official attendance record. The parent of our student is responsible to enter the student’s attendance in the appropriate platform. If your student is not doing his or her work for a day for any reason, please report it to the school and we will report it to the teacher. All missing schoolwork must be submitted including the current daily work. School Board Policy 5200 on Attendance states if a student has excessive absences of more than 15 days, the parent is responsible to appear before the Attendance Review Committee at the scheduled time to provide information relating to their child’s absences and to support prescribed activities. A student with excessive absences and/or failing will be withdrawn from this Magnet program to the student’s residential school.
Note: If the attendance is entered and the schoolwork does not equate to the hours, the attendance entered will be immediately removed and the Truancy process will be activated.
Only absences as specified in the Student Attendance Reporting Procedures PK-12 Handbook may be recorded as excused. The school may use disciplinary actions for excessive absences including placing on probation, reporting to the Federal and State Compliance Office for truancy, and withdrawing to the student’s boundary school.
Due to the nature of virtual instruction, MDO students are not confined to attend school or access their course work at a specific time of the day. Therefore, the parent/guardian/learning coach should monitor their student’s daily online accumulated hours, the daily schedules, assignments, quizzes, and tests to assure their student does not fall behind during the semester. The student’s work should match the attendance. If they do not match, the school will have the authority to remove the attendance and begin the Truancy process. The Miami-Dade County Public School semester dates are the official end of the terms. Extensions and make-up work after the end of the semester date are not acceptable.
Excessive Absences:
In accordance with Florida Statute 984.03 and Board Rule 5200, any student accumulating ten or more class unexcused absences in an annual course, or five or more class unexcused absences in a designated semester course may have quarterly, semester and final grade(s) withheld pending an administrative screening and completion of assigned interventions by the Attendance Review Committee.