Attendance

Students may receive an excused absence for reasons permitted by Ohio law and Mason City Schools Board policy. These include:

• Personal illness or injury
• Illness or death of a family member
• Funeral of an immediate family member or relative
• Religious holidays and approved Religious Expression Days
• Court appearances
• Military deployment or return activities for a parent or sibling (up to five days per school year)
• Approved planned absences that meet Board policy requirements
• Emergencies or other reasons approved by the principal

Families may excuse up to nine absences through direct communication with the school's attendance office. Beginning with your child's tenth day of absence, medical documentation from a licensed healthcare provider is required for future absences to be considered excused.

Families may report and excuse up to nine days of absence through direct communication with the school's attendance office.

Beginning with your child's tenth day of absence, documentation from a licensed healthcare provider is required for future absences to be considered excused.

Whenever possible, we encourage families to submit medical documentation for any healthcare-related absence, even before the tenth day.

Yes. 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week. You may report absences for any school day in the school ter, up to the cut-off time on the day of the absence.

Mason High School | Grades 9-12
School Hours: 7:45AM-2:30PM
Reporting Time Cut-Off: 8:35AM

Mason Middle School | Grades 7 & 8
School Hours: 7:45AM-2:30PM
Reporting Time Cut-Off: 8:35AM

Mason Intermediate School | Grades 5 & 6 
School Hours: 8:40AM-3:10PM
Reporting Time Cut-Off: 9:30 AM

Mason Elementary School | Grades 3 & 4 
School Hours: 8:40AM-3:10PM 
Reporting Time Cut-Off: 9:30AM 

Mason Early Childhood Center | PK & K (AM) 
School Hours: 9:20AM-12:05PM 
Reporting Time Cut-Off: 10:10AM 

Mason Early Childhood Center | PK & K (PM)
School Hours: 1:05PM-3:50PM 
Reporting Time Cut-Off: 1:45PM 

Mason Early Childhood Center | Grades 1 & 2 
School Hours: 9:20AM-3:50PM 
Reporting Time Cut-Off: 10:10AM

You’ll receive a call from SchoolMessenger

If you answer the phone, you’ll have the chance to enter the absence. (simulation below)

• A student in your household named “Luke” was absent today.
• If you are aware of this absence press 1
• If you did not know your student was absent from school, immediately call your child’s school.
• Enter 1 for a full day absence .etc.

If you don’t answer, you’ll receive a call and will need to call the school office to convert the absence to excused.

MECC (Grades K-2): 513-398-3741

MECC (Grades PK): 513-229-4578

ME (Grades 3 & 4): 513-398-5821

MI (Grades 5 & 6): 513-459-2850

MMS (Grades 7 & 8): 513-398-9035

MHS Grades (9-12): 513-398-5025

1. Send an email to your school’s Attendance Administrative Assistant with your child’s Name, Student ID, Days Requested, and Reason for Request
    

2. The Attendance Administrative Assistant will let you know if your child’s absence has been approved or denied. If it has been approved in advance, you will not have to use the School Messenger system to report the absence, and you will not receive a call that your child is absent.

ME Attendance Admin Assistant Debbie Welsh   welshd@masonohioschools.com

MECC K-2 Attendance Admin Assistant Erica Rundle
rundlee@masonohioschools.com 

MECC PK Attendance Admin Assistant 

Under Ohio law, a student is considered chronically absent when they miss 10% or more of the school year for any reason, including both excused and unexcused absences.

At Mason City Schools, we believe every day of learning matters. Regular attendance supports academic success, meaningful classroom experiences, and strong relationships with teachers and classmates. Because attendance patterns develop over time, we'll communicate with families early if attendance becomes a concern so we can work together to support student success.

Ohio law allows students to take up to three Religious Expression Days each school year to:

• Observe a religious holiday
• Participate in a religious observance
• Engage in an organized activity conducted by a religious denomination, church, or other religious or spiritual organization

To request a Religious Expression Day, families should notify the building principal and attendance office in advance.

Additional absences for religious observances may still qualify as excused under district attendance policies; however, only the first three approved days each school year qualify as Religious Expression Days under Ohio Revised Code 3320.04.

High school students are encouraged to explore future educational and career opportunities.

Students may take up to three approved college, career, or post-secondary visit days each school year. These approved visits are recorded as present, meaning they do not count against the student's attendance record.

Documentation should be submitted to the attendance office before or immediately following the visit.

To participate in an extracurricular activity, practice, performance, or athletic event, students must attend their full scheduled school day on the day of the activity.

Exceptions may be granted for:

• Medical or dental appointments (with advance notice whenever possible)
• Other circumstances approved by the Assistant Principal responsible for attendance

Documentation for medical or dental appointments should be submitted to the attendance office as soon as possible following the absence.

1. You’ll hear: Welcome to the SchoolMessenger notification system for Mason City School District
    

2. For Student Attendance, press 3

   *If the phone number you are calling from matches a phone number for your student, you will hear your student’(s) name(s). 
   
   *If the system doesn’t recognize your caller ID, you will be asked to enter the phone number you have registered with the school.
    

3. If __________ (child 1’s name) will be absent, press 2
    

4. To enter an absence for today, press 1
    

5. Please select an absence reason from the following list…
    

6. Confirmation plays back. If correct, press 1

LISTEN TO A SAMPLE CALL

1. You can set a PIN for each of your children or you can also create a single PIN for all children. It will be required to complete the absence reporting process.
    

2. Even if no PIN was set-up, you’ll receive an email confirmation once the absence has been noted (by phone, browser, or app)

1. Navigate to https://go.schoolmessenger.com

2. Create an account by clicking Sign Up

3. You MUST sign up with your eSchool Mason Connects registered email address

4. The system will send a confirmation email from which you must click a link to verify that it is you.
   
   NOTE: If you ever change your email address or phone number, please email support@masonohioschools.com to get this changed within Mason Connects, so you’ll receive all notifications. The absence system and Mason Connects must be in sync.

1. Navigate to https://go.schoolmessenger.com

2. Click on the menu in the upper left hand corner

3. Click Attendance

4. Scroll down under the calendar

5. Click Manage your PIN settings

6. Set a PIN for individual children or for all

When you log in for the first time you’ll see the last 30 days of messages you’ve received. This will include any from the district and your school.

Each student will be shown with a circle and first initial. The one underlined is the student you’re viewing.

1. Go to https://go.schoolmessenger.com

2. Click Attendance

3. Select appropriate student

4. Click Report an Absence

5. Enter details and save

Phone Version

Reporting an absence using the SchoolMessenger Mobile App (Android or Applie iOS version)

Mason Early Childhood Center | Grades PK-2
School Hours:
Pre-K & K (AM) 9:20AM-12:05AM
Pre-K & K (PM) 1:05PM-3:50PM
Grades 1&2 9:20AM-3:50PM
Doors Open: 9:05 AM

Mason Elementary School | Grades 3-4
School Hours: 8:40AM - 3:10PM
Doors Open: 8:15 AM

Mason Intermediate School | Grades 5-6
School Hours: 8:40AM-3:10PM
Doors Open: 8:15 AM

Mason Middle School | Grades 7-8
School Hours: 7:45AM-2:30PM
Doors Open: 7:20 AM

Mason High School | Grades 9-12
School Hours: 7:45AM-2:30PM
Doors Open: 7:20 AM

Car Rider Procedures

• If your child will be an everyday car rider or driver, please complete a Transportation Change Request Form.

• If you have a need for one day, contact the school’s main office number.