Students who are regularly present at school make more rapid progress. Please plan family vacations and visits ahead of time to avoid interruptions of your child's learning.  To earn credit for the year, a student must attend 89% of the days in an academic year. If a student accumulates absences in excess of 11% of the days (20 absences for a full year), the school will not give credit for the year, except under extenuating circumstances, approved by the Board of Directors

• Attendance in Secondary School

The International School of Monagas places great importance on classroom attendance. We cannot educate your students if they are not in school, and in past years poor attendance of some students has been the number one impediment to their academic progress at ISM. To earn credit for a course, a student must attend 89% of the class periods in an academic year. If a student accumulates absences in excess of 11% of the class periods in a course (20 absences for an every-day, full year course), the course and mark will remain on the student's transcript, but no credit is received. In order to fulfill ISM graduation requirements, lost credit will have to be made up by the student through repeating the course at ISM or through Virtual High School on-line courses. 

Students that have missed a class day or a part of a class day should bring a note to the school secretary immediately upon arrival to school, whereupon they will be issued a pass for admittance to class and will be allowed to make­ up work. In the case of unexcused absences, any work due will be marked late, and assessments missed may not be made up. If possible, parents are asked to call the Headmaster if their child is out sick that day, thus making it easier for the student to make up work upon their return to school.

• Student Absences

ISM provides generous holiday vacations, and it is expected that families are able to make their travel plans fit our schedule. When a student misses classes for any reason, this disrupts not only the student's academic progress, but negatively impacts the entire class. All absences are tabulated to get the count of total days absent except for second semester seniors involved in college visits or other college admissions-related activities. Any enrolled student absent more than 20 days during the school year may not receive credit for the school year except in the case of a pre-approved course of home study supervised by ISM staff for cases of long-term injury, illness or other similar condition.