Letter from Attendance Coordinator, Courtney Black. Updated September 11, 2023

Hi MS 839 families! I hope everyone is having a great start to the new year!! My name is Courtney, and I’m sure you have either seen or heard me in the mornings greeting the kids outside, or have received an email from me. Like many of us here at 839, we wear many hats, however, my main job (in addition to supervising lunch periods) is that of attendance coordinator.

I wanted to break down and clarify our attendance policies and procedures.

Last year, and for many years (since I started in 2019), our school utilized  an outside software platform to alert families that their child was marked absent or late to school. This program was costing us tons of money and with budget cuts so when the DOE rolled out their attendance/grading platform- GAMA (which is free!) we switched software and now use the DOE software. If you have received an email alerting you that your child has been marked as absent- the alert you are receiving is from this software.

Let’s get into our attendance procedure!

Attendance is taken EVERY day by your child(s) CREW LEADER during our morning meeting. Morning meeting (MM) starts at 8:50 and ends at approximately 9:00. Please note: our doors open for breakfast between 8:00-8:20am and then we let all other students into the building at 8:40am to make their way up to the 2nd floor, find their crew, and get comfortable!

We set the tone for our community by respecting the space we hold together in morning meetings, therefore students who are NOT in morning meeting by 8:50 sharp are held downstairs with Adi, myself, or Leah until MM dismisses, which  is when we send our late kids to 1st period. We have an iPad and take down every student’s name who arrives after 8:50- so that we can reverse the “absence” to a “late”.

However, I must note (this is important!) that when your student is not in MM, and their crew leader doesn’t physically see them, they get marked as absent which triggers the DOE to send out the email. Although, I do reverse attendance the same day, you will still get that email (which can be alarming and frustrating!!). This is why we urge all students to get to school before 8:50 every day to avoid the concern.

🌻If you know your child will be absent for whatever reason please email me at attendance@ms839.org (I have a separate tracker for that) with your child’s FIRST and LAST name, so the absence can be coded correctly in our system.

🌸  If your student arrives LATE to school, after MM dismissal (anytime between 9:00-9:08), and does not see Adi, myself, or Leah downstairs in the courtyard they must stop by the main office (4th floor, RM 420) to sign in and get a late pass.

💐 If your child has doctor notes regarding their absence, please have them drop it off to Courtney in the main office!

If you have any questions or concerns regarding attendance, I am always happy to help and you can reach me directly at courtney.black@ms839.org.

Thank you so much!

-Courtney