SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 17
(By Senators White, Foster, Boley, Plymale, Wells, Browning,
Edgell, Laird, Oliverio, Stollings, Unger, Barnes and Guills)
[Originating in the Committee on Education]
Strongly encouraging all judicial circuits and county boards of
education to implement a new approach to addressing truancy
that is similar to the approach being implemented in Nicholas
and Taylor counties.
Whereas, A new approach to addressing truancy is being taken
in Nicholas and Taylor counties; and
Whereas, The new approach includes adjudication of a truant
student as a status offender and putting him or her on a plan of
improvement which is then monitored by a juvenile probation officer
in cooperation with school personnel; and
Whereas, The new approach also uses the child abuse and
neglect laws with the potential for removal of a child from the
home and placement with the Department of Health and Human
Resources to enforce the responsibility of parents to ensure their
children's attendance; and
Whereas, Under the new approach, the role of the juvenile
probation officer in working with school personnel is to enforce
the plan of improvement, including looking at the student's home environment, receive monthly reports from the school on attendance
and grades, and monitor the frequency of medical excuses; and
Whereas, The juvenile probation officer will contact the
doctor's office if medical excuses for absences are excessive, and
if necessary, can subpoena the doctor to attend hearings; and
Whereas, Testimony to a joint meeting of Subcommittee C of the
Joint Standing Committee on Education and Subcommittee C of the
Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary indicated that under the
new supervised probation approach for truant students, 65 percent
of them are attending regularly while none of them were under the
traditional approach; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate:
All judicial circuits and county boards of education are
hereby strongly encouraged to implement a new approach to
addressing truancy that is similar to the approach being
implemented in Nicholas and Taylor counties; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk is hereby directed to forward
a copy of this resolution to the West Virginia Supreme Court of
Appeals for distribution to all 31 judicial circuits and to the
West Virginia Department of Education for distribution to all 55
county boards of education.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
