Even though your child is enrolled in a virtual school, attendance can become an issue. Failure to Participate notices are issued at WCA when a student is not meeting one of the requirements of the program. While this will never become a concern for most families, each year a number of students do receive Failure to Participate violations.
Due to Wisconsin State Law, a student who receives three notices within one semester will be withdrawn from WCA. The student will be transferred to the local public school.
The following reasons are the most common areas that lead to Failure to Participate notices at WCA. It is important to understand these requirements from the beginning of the year to avoid any potential problems.
Overdue Assignments: Students should be keeping up with their daily schedules. However, WCA understands that circumstances may arise which cause a student to fall behind. Therefore, WCA allows some flexibility with overdue lessons. Students must keep their overdue lessons below 30. If a student reaches 30 or more overdue lessons, a Failure to Participate notice may be issued.
Virtual Class Attendance: Students are required to attend at least one virtual class per week. Again, WCA understands that circumstances may arise (illness, loss of internet connection) which do not allow a student to attend a virtual class. Each semester, all students will be allowed three missed weeks of virtual class attendance. Each missed week after that will result in a Failure to Participate violation.
Note: Students may be required to attend more than one virtual class per week due to grades. These students will be notified of the additional requirements. Missing required classes due to grades must be approved in advance. Students are not allowed any missed weeks of required classes due to grades.
Contact with Teachers: WCA requires that all students have phone contact with their homeroom teacher on a regular basis. Teachers will be contacting each student when necessary. If a teacher’s voicemail or email attempts to contact a student are not returned, a student may receive a notice.
Submitting Authentic Assignments: In an effort to avoid the required work, at times students will submit blank or irrelevant documents for an assignment. This does not meet the participation and attendance requirements of WCA. The first occurrence will result in the deletion of the document and a specific due date for the required work. If this date is not met, a Failure to Participate notice may be issued. Any additional instances will result in the deletion of the document and may result in an automatic Failure to Participate notice.
Submit Offline (grades K-5): At times it is necessary for student work in grades K-5 to be mailed to WCA. Prior teacher approval is not required to use the “submit offline” option. However, all work marked as “submit offline” should be received within two weeks of the lesson appearing on the student planner. Failure to submit the work by the two week deadline may result in a Failure to Participate notice.
Please contact your child’s homeroom teacher if you have any questions. Again, while most students will never receive a notice, it is important to understand guidelines and consequences of Failure to Participate notices in the virtual setting.
