SB378 HJUD AM 3-3
The Committee on the Judiciary moves to amend the bill on page one, following the enacting clause, by striking out the remainder of the bill and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
“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) AExcused 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 five 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 five 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;
(L) Absence due to a religious holiday; and
(xi)(M) 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, including without limitation, some or all unexcused absences
prior to return of a student who has droped out of school after the student
attained the age for which school attendance was no longer mandatory.
(2) An AUnexcused unexcused
absence” shall be is any absence not specifically included in
the definition of Aexcused
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
that five days have passed from the end of an absence totaling, or bringing the
student to three unexcused absences 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 the school is
required, and that if the student has five unexcused absences, a conference
with the principal or other designated representative will be required: Provided,
That if the unexcused absences total five, or more days the school may
disregard this subsection and serve notice of the meeting as provided in
subsection (f).
(c) (f) 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)(g) 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)(h) 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)(i) 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)(j) 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)(k) 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.
§18-8-8. 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 excused because a condition determined by the school and placed upon the child.