Parent Resources

General Information for EWS Parents

Academic Integrity/Support Attendance/Absences

School Closings

Attendance

Students are expected to attend all classes, study halls, and other academic commitments. Academic commitments include all scheduled classes (both before and after school), evening study hall, assemblies, and other required school events. Engaging in public discourse within a classroom is vital to the effectiveness of the learning process. Learning to express one’s opinion articulately is an essential part of the learning experience and is particularly important in the development of self-confidence in young women. Full learning requires being in class and participating.

Excused Absences

Absences will be excused in the case of student illness or serious illness in the student’s family, for an important religious holiday, or for a wedding or graduation of a family member, except during the exam weeks. All absences are handled in the following fashion:

Illness

Boarding students must be excused by the Health Center. Day students’ parents must call the school’s attendance voicemail hotline (833-1503—available 24 hours a day) or e-mail ewsattendance@emmawillard.org by 9:00 a.m. the day that the student is ill. A doctor’s note may be required.

Doctors’ Appointments

For all students, doctors’ appointments are processed by the Health Center. Students are required to sign out with the nurse on duty in the Health Center when leaving campus for any medical appointment.

Serious Family Illness

Parents should notify the Academic Dean as soon as possible.

Religious Holidays

Each student who anticipates missing classes in order to observe an important religious holiday should have the Parental Permission Form for Religious Holidays on file in the Student Services office. Parents then need to notify Student Services of the upcoming religious observation. If a family has not completed the form, permission should be sought from the Academic Dean at least one week before the holiday.

Wedding/Graduation of a family member.

Permission to miss academic commitments for the wedding or graduation of a family member must be obtained from the Academic Dean at least one week prior to the proposed absence. Students will not be excused from final exams.

In all cases of excused absences, students are required to make up any missed work within 48 hours of their return.

Parental Decision Absences

Students will not be excused from academic commitments because of early departures to or late returns from vacations or weekends, or for family vacations that do not coincide with Emma Willard vacations. Should a family decide upon an early departure or a late return, the following guidelines and consequences should be kept in mind.

• Any in-class work that is missed may not be made up. This includes tests, quizzes, or other graded work that is completed in class.
• Assigned work that is due in any class must be handed in before the absence if it is to receive credit.
• The Academic Dean should be notified of the planned absence at least a week in advance.

Unexcused Absences

On those rare occasions when a student is absent from a commitment for reasons not mentioned above, her absence is responded to with appropriate severity. Please note that any in-class work that is missed due to an unexcused absence may not be made up for credit. This includes tests, quizzes, or other graded work that is completed in class.

Unexcused absences are tracked cumulatively through each semester and an escalating series of penalties is applied as deemed appropriate by the director of academic services in consultation with the dean of students.

In addition, students who are absent without excuse from non-academic commitments and required events may also be subject to disciplinary measures.

 

In recent years Emma Willard has drawn students from Bermuda, Bosnia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, the Republic of Georgia, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Macedonia, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela, as well as Americans who live abroad.