San Mateo-Foster City School
District
POLICY 4190
PUPIL ATTENDANCE AND TRUANCY
The Board of Trustees believes that regular school attendance plays a key role in successful student achievement, and recognizes its legal and moral responsibility to work with parents and children to promote regular school attendance and success. Parents/guardians of children between the ages of six and 18 are legally obligated to send their children to school unless otherwise provided. It is the school district’s responsibility to enforce compulsory education laws and regulations.
The school district shall adhere to the following legal requirements for student school attendance and truancy.
Attendance
Limiting Excused Absences and Eliminating Unexcused
Absences
The
Supervisor of Attendance or designee must ensure that the attendance policy
limits excused absences and decreases unexcused absences. Education Code 48205 enumerates the reasons for
excused absences, and the Supervisor of Attendance, the Principal, or the
School Attendance and Review Board (SARB) may require verification by a school
official or physician if absences for health reasons appear excessive. In
addition the district may require prior notice from parents for absences
excused for justifiable personal reasons, such as non-emergency appointments or
permitted religious instruction or retreats.
An excused absence must be verified for compulsory education purposes.
Furthermore, an excused absence has no apportionment value for computing
average daily attendance (
As provided in the Education Code and Title 5 administrative regulations, a pupil who is absent for any of the following reasons shall be considered as excused for purposes of compulsory attendance.
If a student is absent from school for any of the reasons enumerated above, s/he shall be allowed to complete all assignments and tests missed during the absence if these can be reasonably provided. S/he shall be given full credit upon satisfactory completion of the work. The absent student’s class teacher shall determine what assignments shall be reasonably equivalent to, although they need not be necessarily identical to, the tests and assignments which the pupil missed.
State law provides districts with an opportunity to gain average daily attendance credit for a student who completes a program of independent study under the general direction of certificated personnel while the student is legitimately off-campus. The Board encourages use of this program as appropriate. An Independent Study contract must be completed in advance of the absence for this to occur.
Truancy
Definition
Any pupil who is absent from school without valid excuse three full days in one school year or tardy or absent for more than any 30-minute period during the school day without a valid excuse on three occasions during one school year, or any combination thereof, is a truant and shall be reported to the attendance supervisor or to the superintendent of the school district.
Any pupil is deemed an habitual truant who has been reported as a truant three or more times per school year, provided that no pupil shall be deemed an habitual truant unless an appropriate district administrator has made a conscientious effort to hold at least one conference with a parent or guardian of the pupil and the pupil himself/herself after the filing of either of the reports required by Section §48260 or Section § 48261.
Extenuating circumstances may dictate that the days of truancy may be consecutive (i.e. student may have not returned to school) if every effort, to conference with the parent/student and provide support and interventions, has been made and documented per EC Section §48260 or EC Section §48261.
SB 727 (Chapter 855/1997)
Related Policies: BOARD POLICY - 5150 Independent Study; 5160 Home Study
Revised: 5/18/2006
REGULATION 4190
PUPIL ATTENDANCE AND TRUANCY
District Policy and Regulation 4190, Pupil Absences and Truancy, sets forth the District and legal definition for legal absences and truancy.
Attendance:
Students may be excused without prior approval for any of the following reasons; however, such absences may not be claimed by the district for purposes of computing average daily attendance:
1) Illness - verified by phone or parent note
2) Funeral services for a member of the immediate family
a)
Limit of one day within
b) Immediate family includes mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, brother, sister, or any relative living in the immediate household of the student.
3) Professional appointments - doctors, dentists, professional counseling
4) Quarantine
5) Immunization
6) Appearance in court
7) Observance of a holiday or ceremony of his or her religion
8) Attendance at a funeral
When possible, prior notice should be given to the school and an Independent Study contract should be considered.
Truancy
The following regulation must be followed when a student is absent from school without valid excuse three full days in one school year or tardy or absent for more than any 30-minute period during the school day without a valid excuse on three occasions during one school year, or any combination thereof, as specified in the policy and State law.
Step 1:
First notification of truancy reported to District Superintendent/designee after 3 unexcused absences or 3 tardies in excess of 30 minutes. District/School sends a first letter of written notice to parents. (EC §48260.5) Pursue interventions, i.e. conference with student/parent; assign appropriate disciplinary consequences, referral to student study team (SST). School personnel ascertains if student is on probation, and if so, probation officer is notified.
Step 2:
Second notification of truancy reported to District Superintendent/Designee after an additional 1 day (minimum) unexcused absence or tardy in excess of 30 minutes. Parents receive a second letter and are provided with interventions and a complete description of possible consequences of continued truancy. A copy is forwarded to the local police department. If the student is on probation, a copy is forwarded to the Probation Officer. School site administrator schedules a conference with parents and child to discuss the situation. School site takes the lead in determining how to address the problem.
Step 3:
If improved attendance, no further action required at this time. If no improvement, after implementation of the interventions in Step 2, then a referral is made to the local police department to discuss with student and parents the possible legal consequences of the child's truancy.
Step 4:
Third letter is a notification of habitual truancy. After an additional one day (minimum) of unexcused absence or tardy in excess of 30 minutes, in a single school year, triggers a designation as “habitual truant” and a referral is made to the District SARB (School Attendance Review Board). SARB shall include district superintendent/designee, law enforcement, and probation. Others may attend such as Child Welfare, school guidance representation, or social services. School district notifies child and parents of referral and the reasons for the referral. The SARB may offer the following options: assistance and support, assessments, referrals, school district based attendance opportunity program, mediation etc. A SARB improvement plan is developed. [EC §48262; 48263]
The plan will include follow-up of the results of the interventions in Step 2 with a timeline appropriate for the plan.
Step 5:
If the student/parents have not responded to or complied with interventions
and SARB improvement plan, a referral is made to the County School Attendance
Review Board (SMCOE, District Representative, Police officer, probation and HSA
representative and others as appropriate). The
Step 6:
If student/parents have not responded to or complied with interventions and improvement plan, then if the County SARB, the County Superintendent of Schools/Designee and probation officer agree, probation officer will forward a petition request to the district attorney's office for court action.[EC §48263]