WEST virginia
legislature
2017 regular session
By
[
to the Committee on
A BILL to amend and
reenact §18-8-4 and §18-8-8 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all
relating generally to truancy intervention; expanding definition of “excused
absence”; exempting absences for chronic medical condition or disability which
may be reasonably accommodated by the school; requiring parent to request
reasonable accommodation; defining “chronic medical condition or disability”;
requiring written excuses or documentation from a medical provider in certain
cases; limiting number of days which may be excused absences; defining
“immediate family”; requiring verification of absence for judicial obligation
or court appearance; allowing principal to authorize excused absences for other
reason or for longer periods of time with the approval of the county
superintendent; removing notice requirement after three days’ absence;
requiring written excuses or documentation to be submitted within certain time
frame; defining the term “reasonable accommodation”; and modifying the effect
of student suspensions on enforcement of the provisions of compulsory
attendance enforcement.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-8-4 and
§18-8-8 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
and
reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8. COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.
§18-8-4. Duties of attendance
director and assistant directors; complaints, warrants and hearings.
(a) The county attendance
director and the assistants assistant
directors shall diligently promote regular school attendance. The director
and assistants assistant directors shall:
(1) Ascertain the reasons for unexcused absences
from school of students of compulsory school age and students who remain
enrolled beyond the compulsory school age as defined under section one-a of
this article; and
(2) Take such steps as
that are, in their discretion, best calculated to encourage the
attendance of students and to impart upon the parents and guardians the
importance of attendance and the seriousness of failing to do so. and
(3) (b) For the purposes of this article, the
following definitions shall apply:
(A) (1)
"Excused absence" shall be defined to include includes:
(i) (A) Personal illness or injury of the student or in
the family if the illness or injury prohibits a student from school
attendance. A student shall
provide written documentation from a medical provider stating the illness or
injury precludes school attendance when a student’s illness or injury caused
that student to be absent for three or more consecutive days of school, or ten
days in any ninety-day period: Provided, That
excused absences caused by personal illness or injury of the student verified
only by a note from a parent, guardian or custodian are limited to five in any
one semester or ten in a school year. After
a student has been absent for personal illness or injury five times in a
semester or ten times in a school year, any further absences shall be unexcused
unless verified by a physician;
(B) Personal illness or
injury of a member of the student’s family who regularly resides with the
student, if the family member requires the active assistance of the student
during the illness or injury and there is no other individual who can assist
the family member: Provided, That any
absence lasting longer than two days pursuant to this paragraph shall not be
considered excused unless written documentation is provided by a medical
provider confirming that the student’s absence from school is necessary for the
ongoing care of the family member;
(ii) (C) A
Medical medical or
dental appointment with written excuse or documentation of the appointment
from physician or dentist a medical or dental provider;
(iii)(D) A Chronic
chronic medical condition or
disability that impacts precludes attendance, unless the chronic medical condition
or disability can be reasonably accommodated by the school, and the school has
apprised the student and his parent, guardian or custodian of the
accommodation. A student claiming
that his or her chronic medical condition or disability precludes his or her
attendance at school shall provide a written excuse or documentation from a
medical provider stating that the chronic medical condition or disability
necessitates that the student be absent from school. Upon reaching the
requisite number of absences to constitute a chronic medical condition, the
student’s parent, guardian or custodian shall contact the school to ascertain
if reasonable accommodation can be made to allow the student to attend school.
For the purposes of this paragraph, a chronic medical condition or disability
is a medical condition or disability that causes the student to be absent for
five or more consecutive days or ten days or more in any ninety-day period;
(iv) (E) Participation in home or hospital
instruction due to an illness or injury or other extraordinary circumstance that
warrants home or hospital confinement;
(v) (F) A Calamity
calamity, such as a fire or flood;
(vi)(G) A Death
death in the student’s immediate family. As used in this paragraph “immediate family” means
mother, father, aunt, uncle, siblings, grandparents, guardian, custodian or a
family member residing in the child’s home. An excused absence under this paragraph is limited to
three days and the student shall provide documentation of the death;
(vii) (H) School-approved or county-approved
curricular or extra-curricular activities;
(viii) (I) A Judicial
judicial obligation or court appearance involving the student, if
supported by written documentation from an attorney, probation officer, judge,
magistrate or Department of Health and Human Resources worker;
(ix) (J) A Military
military requirement for students enlisted or enlisting in the military;
(x) (K) Personal or academic circumstances
approved by the principal; and
(xi) (L) Such Any other
situations as may be further determined by the county board: Provided,
That handling of absences of students with disabilities shall be in
accordance consistent with the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Improvement Act of 2004 and
the federal and state regulations and
rules adopted in compliance therewith with the act: Provided,
however, That a school principal,
with the approval of the county superintendent of schools, may authorize that
an unexcused absence be determined an excused absence based on all of the
specific facts and circumstances.
(2) An Unexcused
“unexcused absence” shall be is any absence not
specifically included in the definition of "excused absence".
(b) In the case of three
total unexcused absences of a student during a school year, the attendance
director or assistant shall serve written notice to the parent, guardian or
custodian of the student that the attendance of the student at school is
required and that if the student has five unexcused absences, a conference with
the principal or other designated representative will be required.
(c) In order for the
absence to be excused, the student or his or her parent, guardian or custodian
shall supply the written excuses or documentation to the person at the
student’s school designated to receive the excuses or documentation within five
days after returning to school from the absence.
(d) For purposes of this
section, a student’s illness, injury or chronic medical condition is reasonably
accommodated if the school provides necessary and appropriate adjustments to
school practices which allow the student’s attendance while ensuring the
student’s health and safety and that of his or her fellow students.
(c) (e) In the case of five total unexcused
absences, the attendance director or assistant shall serve written notice to
the parent, guardian or custodian of the student that within five days of
receipt of the notice the parent, guardian or custodian, accompanied by the
student, shall report in person to the school the student attends for a
conference with the principal or other designated representative of the school
in order to discuss and correct the circumstances causing the unexcused
absences of the student, including the adjustment of unexcused absences based
upon such the meeting.
(d) (f) In the case of ten total unexcused
absences of a student during a school year, the attendance director or
assistant directors shall make a complaint against the parent,
guardian or custodian before a magistrate of the county. If it appears from the
complaint that there is probable cause to believe that an offense has been
committed and that the accused has committed it, a summons or a warrant for the
arrest of the accused shall issue to any officer authorized by law to serve the
summons or to arrest persons charged with offenses against the state. More than
one parent, guardian or custodian may be charged in a complaint. Initial
service of a summons or warrant issued pursuant to the provisions of this
section shall be attempted within ten calendar days of receipt of the summons
or warrant and subsequent attempts at service shall continue until the summons
or warrant is executed. or until the end of the school term during which the
complaint is made, whichever is later
(e) (g) The magistrate court clerk, or the clerk
of the circuit court performing the duties of the magistrate court as
authorized in section eight, article one, chapter fifty of this code, shall
assign the case to a magistrate within ten days of execution of the summons or
warrant. The hearing shall be held within twenty days of the assignment to the
magistrate, subject to lawful continuance. The magistrate shall provide to the
accused at least ten days' advance notice
of the date, time and place of the hearing.
(f) (h) When any doubt exists as to the age of a
student absent from school, the attendance director and assistants have
authority to assistant directors may require a properly attested
birth certificate or an affidavit from the parent, guardian or custodian of the
student, stating the age of the student. In the performance of his or
her duties, the county attendance director and assistants have authority to
assistant directors may take without warrant any student absent from
school in violation of the provisions of this article and to place the
student in the school in which he or she is or should be enrolled.
(g) (i) The county attendance director and assistants
assistant directors shall devote such time as is required by section
three of this article to the duties of attendance director in accordance with
this section during the instructional term and at such other times as the
duties of an attendance director are required. All attendance directors and assistants
assistant directors hired for more than two hundred days may be assigned
other duties determined by the superintendent during the period in excess of
two hundred days. The county attendance director is responsible under direction
of the county superintendent for efficiently administering school attendance in
the county.
(h) (j) In addition to those duties directly
relating to the administration of attendance, the county attendance director
and assistant directors also shall perform the following duties:
(1) Assist in directing the
taking of the school census to see that it is taken at the time and in the
manner provided by law;
(2) Confer with principals
and teachers on the comparison of school census and enrollment for the
detection of possible nonenrollees;
(3) Cooperate with existing
state and federal agencies charged with enforcing child labor laws;
(4) Prepare a report for
submission by the county superintendent to the State Superintendent of Schools
on school attendance, at such the times and in such the
required detail. as may be required The state board shall promulgate
a legislative rule pursuant to article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code that sets forth student absences that are excluded for accountability
purposes. The absences that are excluded by the rule include, but are not limited
to, excused student absences, students not in attendance due to disciplinary
measures and absent students for whom the attendance director has pursued
judicial remedies to compel attendance to the extent of his or her authority.
The attendance director shall file with the county superintendent and county
board at the close of each month a report showing activities of the school
attendance office and the status of attendance in the county at the time;
(5) Promote attendance in
the county by compiling data for schools and by furnishing suggestions and
recommendations for publication through school bulletins and the press, or in such
the manner as directed by the county superintendent; may
direct
(6) Participate in school
teachers' conferences with parents and
students;
(7) Assist in such any
other ways way as directed by the county superintendent may
direct for improving school attendance;
(8) Make home visits of
students who have excessive unexcused absences, as provided above in
this section, or if requested by the chief administrator, principal or
assistant principal; and
(9) Serve as the liaison
for homeless children and youth.
§18-8-8. Child suspended for failure to comply with
requirements and regulations treated as unlawfully absent Effect of
school suspension on enforcement of the provisions of this article.
If a child be suspended
from school because of improper conduct or refusal of such child to comply with
the requirements of the school, the school shall immediately notify the county
superintendent of such suspension, and specify the time or conditions of such
suspension. Further admission of the child to school may be refused until such
requirements and regulations be complied with. Any such child shall be treated
by the school as being unlawfully absent from the school during the time he or
she refuses to comply with such requirements and regulations, and any person
having legal or actual control of such child shall be liable to prosecution
under the provisions of this article for the absence of such child from school:
Provided, That the county board of education does not exclude or expel
the suspended child from school
(a) When a child is
absent from school due to a suspension, absences are unexcused for purposes of
this article if the suspension is based on an intentional act of the student.
(b) Days a student is absent from
school due to a suspension from school for an intentional act of the student
are not attributable to the student’s parent, guardian or custodian for purposes
of enforcement of this article, unless the parent, guardian or custodian
encouraged, condoned or aided or abetted the conduct causing the suspension.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is
to revise the law in regard to student absences from school.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.