Skip to main content

Popular Links

Event Participation Eligibility

Event Eligibility Form

Eligibility Appeal Form

School events (such as Prom, Homecoming, Grad Bash, movie nights, sporting events, etc.) are a privilege of attending school and working toward graduation. These are extra events, and are intended for Falcons who represent our school and themselves respectfully and effectively, and meet the priorities and goals of East River High School.

In order to participate in these events, it is the expectation that students meet these priorities:

  • Are meeting and working towards Graduation Requirements
  • Attend school consistently
  • Follow school rules
  • Complete school work

To ensure that participants of these events meet these criteria, we enforce requirements in order to purchase tickets and attend these events. These requirements include, but are not limited to, not having excessive unexcused absences, not having discipline referrals, not having failing grades, and meeting testing requirements.

A student may check their eligibilty to attend events at any time using the Eligibility Checker linked above. This must be completed by the student checking their eligibility, not by someone else. The student will receive an email with their eligibility status at that time, and the date that the data was last updated. During most times of the year, data is updated weekly. Before major events, it is updated more often.

If you are ineligible for an event, but believe you should be considered for an exception, the student may complete an appeal request. In order to be considered for an appeal, you must have good current grades (A’s and B’s are expected), and clear evidence of working towards improving past mistakes and working on Graduation Requirements. You can submit an appeal at the link above as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • There are a few possible reasons for this.

    First, check the date that the data was last updated on the email. It is possible that you have submitted excuse notes that were entered after the last time the data was updated. If so, they will be reflected the next time there is a data update.

    Second, Skyward tracks full-day absences and period absences. Depending on your scheduled classes, full-day absences are not always accurate. Instead, we use the number of periods absent for the semester divided by the number of classes scheduled per day.

  • Per state, and federal, law, student attendance at school is a requirement. You must attend school in order to meet the requirements of the law and not be considered truant. Further, we have a clear connection between attendance at school and student success. If you’re not here, you’re not learning. While we value experiences like Grad Bash and Prom, earning a high school diploma is significantly more important.

    Additionally, if a student is not present for the majority of the scheduled hours of a course, they may not earn credit for the course, regardless of the grades they earn. Seat-time is a mandatory consideration in calculating credits and graduation status.

  • The expectation is that students are making every available effort to attempt these exams. If you have taken every on-campus testing opportunity, but have still not passed these requirements, we can make an exception to this requirement. Fill out the Eligibility Appeal and we will review your situation.

    In order to be eligible for an appeal, you must be regularly attending and earning good grades in the associated classes that prepare you for these exams (Applied Communications, English, Math for Data, or Math for College Algebra) and have taken all on-campus testing opportunities (School Day SAT, ACT-NCR, FAST and BEST in September and December, etc.).

    “Waiting for a score” from a previous exam is not a reason to miss another testing opportunity. 

  • Yes, you can! This is especially true for attendance, as unexcused absences are tracked from now until the event. If you are close to the edge of limit of absences, and then miss additional days, you will become ineligible. We do not offer refunds to students who become ineligible due to their attendance.

  • If you have earned a Level 4 referral all year, you are ineligible to attend school events.

    If you have earned a level 2 or 3 referral in the current semester, you are potentially ineligible to attend school events.

    In either case, you must submit an Eligibility Appeal in order to be considered for event attendance. 

  • The first criteria considered on any appeal is current grades. The expectation is that you have no F’s or D’s, and little to no C’s, in order to have your appeal reviewed. In addition, we review discipline history, improvement since the initial issue, the nature of the referral (for referral appeals), the excessiveness of the absences (for attendance appeals), and the overal graduation status of the student requesting the appeal.

    Appeal decisions are made by Mr. Shreffler and Mrs. Watson.

  • Mr. Shreffler is the first person for you to speak to. However, understand that this policy and process has been thoroughly reviewed and discussed by the school administration team. While we are open to feedback, we also know that this policy aligns with the expectations and goals of East River High School and Orange County Public Schools.