Georgia School Discipline Laws & Regulations: Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy

Georgia School Discipline Laws & Regulations: Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy

Category: Discipline Addressing Specific Code of Conduct Violations
Subcategory: Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy
State: Georgia

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Georgia

LAWS

20-2-690.1. Mandatory education for children between ages six and 16.

(a) Mandatory attendance in a public school, private school, or home school program shall be required for children between their sixth and sixteenth birthdays. Such mandatory attendance shall not be required where the child has successfully completed all requirements for a high school diploma.

(b) Every parent, guardian, or other person residing within this state having control or charge of any child or children during the ages of mandatory attendance as required in subsection (a) of this Code section shall enroll and send such child or children to a public school, a private school, or a home study program that meets the requirements for a public school, a private school, or a home study program; and such child shall be responsible for enrolling in and attending a public school, a private school, or a home study program that meets the requirements for a public school, a private school, or a home study program under such penalty for noncompliance with this subsection as is provided in Chapter 11 of Title 15, unless the child's failure to enroll and attend is caused by the child's parent, guardian, or other person, in which case the parent, guardian, or other person alone shall be responsible; provided, however, that tests and physical exams for military service and the National Guard and such other approved absences shall be excused absences. The requirements of this subsection shall apply to a child during the ages of mandatory attendance as required in subsection (a) of this Code section who has been assigned by a local board of education or its delegate to attend an alternative public school program established by that local board of education, including an alternative public school program provided for in Code Section 20-2-154.1, regardless of whether such child has been suspended or expelled from another public school program by that local board of education or its delegate, and to the parent, guardian, or other person residing in this state who has control or charge of such child. Nothing in this Code section shall be construed to require a local board of education or its delegate to assign a child to attend an alternative public school program rather than suspending or expelling the child.

(c) Any parent, guardian, or other person residing in this state who has control or charge of a child or children and who violates this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be subject to a fine of not less than $25.00 and not greater than $100.00, imprisonment not to exceed 30 days, community service, or any combination of such penalties, at the discretion of the court having jurisdiction. Each day's absence from school in violation of this part after the child's school system notifies the parent, guardian, or other person who has control or charge of a child of five unexcused days of absence for a child shall constitute a separate offense. After two reasonable attempts to notify the parent, guardian, or other person who has control or charge of a child of five unexcused days of absence without response, the school system shall send a notice to such parent, guardian, or other person by certified mail, return receipt requested, or first-class mail. Prior to any action to commence judicial proceedings to impose a penalty for violating this subsection on a parent, guardian, or other person residing in this state who has control or charge of a child or children, a school system shall send a notice to such parent, guardian, or other person by certified mail, return receipt requested. Public schools shall provide to the parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of each child enrolled in public school a written summary of possible consequences and penalties for failing to comply with compulsory attendance under this Code section for children and their parents, guardians, or other persons having control or charge of children. The parent, guardian, or other person who has control or charge of a child or children shall sign a statement indicating receipt of such written statement of possible consequences and penalties; children who are age ten years or older by September 1 shall sign a statement indicating receipt of such written statement of possible consequences and penalties. After two reasonable attempts by the school to secure such signature or signatures, the school shall be considered to be in compliance with this subsection if it sends a copy of the statement, via certified mail, return receipt requested, or first-class mail, to such parent, guardian, or other person who has control or charge of a child or children. Public schools shall retain signed copies of statements through the end of the school year.

(d) Local school superintendents in the case of private schools, the Department of Education in the case of home study programs, and visiting teachers and attendance officers in the case of public schools shall have authority and it shall be their duty to file proceedings in court to enforce this subpart. The Department of Education shall coordinate with local school superintendents with respect to attendance records and notification for students in home study programs.

(e) An unemancipated minor who is older than the age of mandatory attendance as required in subsection (a) of this Code section who has not completed all requirements for a high school diploma who wishes to withdraw from school shall have the written permission of his or her parent or legal guardian prior to withdrawing. Prior to accepting such permission, the school principal or designee shall convene a conference with the child and parent or legal guardian within two school days of receiving notice of the intent of the child to withdraw from school. The principal or designee shall make a reasonable attempt to share with the student and parent or guardian the educational options available, including the opportunity to pursue a general educational development (GED) diploma and the consequences of not having earned a high school diploma, including lower lifetime earnings, fewer jobs for which the student will be qualified, and the inability to avail oneself of higher educational opportunities. Every local board of education shall adopt a policy on the process of voluntary withdrawal of unemancipated minors who are older than the mandatory attendance age. The policy shall be filed with the Department of Education no later than January 1, 2007. The Department of Education shall provide annually to all local school superintendents model forms for the parent or guardian signature requirement contained in this subsection and updated information from reliable sources relating to the consequences of withdrawing from school without completing all requirements for a high school diploma. Such form shall include information relating to the opportunity to pursue a general educational development (GED) diploma and the consequences of not having earned a high school diploma, including lower lifetime earnings, fewer jobs for which the student will be qualified, and the inability to avail oneself of higher educational opportunities. Each local school superintendent shall provide such forms and information to all of its principals of schools serving grades six through twelve for the principals to use during the required conference with the child and parent or legal guardian.

20-2-690.2. Establishment of student attendance and school climate committee; membership; summary of penalties for failure to comply; review and policy recommendations; reporting.

(a) The chief judge of the superior court of each county shall establish a student attendance and school climate committee for such county. The purpose of the committee shall be to ensure coordination and cooperation among officials, agencies, and programs involved in compulsory attendance issues, to reduce the number of unexcused absences from school, to increase the percentage of students present to take tests which are required to be administered under the laws of this state, and to improve the school climate in each school. The chief judge is responsible for ensuring that all members of the committee are notified of their responsibility to the committee and shall call the first meeting of the committee in each county. The committee shall elect a chairperson and may elect other officers.

(b) Each local board of education shall participate in, consider, and make publicly available, including, but not limited to, posting in a conspicuous location, its decision regarding the recommendations of the committee as provided in this Code section. Independent school systems may participate in the committee in the county where the system is located. Independent school systems whose geographic area encompasses more than one county may select one of such counties in which to participate. An independent school system that elects not to participate in the committee of the county where it is located shall request that the chief judge of the superior court of a county encompassed by its geographic area establish an independent student attendance and school climate committee in the same manner as established for the county school system.

(1) The chief judge of the superior court;

(2) The juvenile court judge or judges of the county;

(3) The district attorney for the county;

(4) The solicitor-general of state court, if the county has a state court;

(5) The Department of Juvenile Justice, which may include representatives from area juvenile detention facilities as defined in Code Section 49-4A-1;

(6) The superintendent, a certificated school employee, and a local school board member from each public school system in the county and a certificated school social worker from each public school system, if any are employed by the school system;

(7) The sheriff of the county;

(8) The chief of police of the county police department;

(9) The chief of police of each municipal police department in the county;

(10) The county department of family and children services;

(11) The county board of health;

(12) The county mental health organization;

(13) The county Family Connection commission, board, or authority, or other county agency, board, authority, or commission having the duty and authority to study problems of families, children, and youth and provide services to families, children, and youth; and

(14) The court approved community based risk reduction program established by the juvenile court in accordance with Code Section 15-11-38, if such a program has been established.

(d) The committee thus established may appoint such additional members as necessary and proper to accomplish the purposes of the committee.

(e)(1) Each committee shall, by June 1, 2005, adopt a written student attendance protocol for its county school system and for each independent school system within its geographic boundaries which shall be filed with the Department of Education. The protocol shall outline in detail the procedures to be used in identifying, reporting, investigating, and prosecuting cases of alleged violations of Code Section 20-2-690.1, relating to mandatory school attendance. The protocol shall outline in detail methods for determining the causes of failing to comply with compulsory attendance and appropriately addressing the issue with children and their parents or guardians. The protocol shall also include recommendations for policies relating to tardiness. The Department of Education shall provide model school attendance protocols, if requested by the committee.

(2) A copy of the protocol shall be furnished to each agency, official, or program within the county that has any responsibility in assisting children and their parents or guardians in complying with Code Section 20-2-690.1.

(3) The committee shall write the summary of possible consequences and penalties for failing to comply with compulsory attendance under Code Section 20-2-690.1 for children and their parents, guardians, or other persons who have control or charge of children for distribution by schools in accordance with Code Section 20-2-690.1. The summary of possible consequences for children shall include possible dispositions for children in need of services and possible denial of a driver's license for a child in accordance with Code Section 40-5-22.

(f) The committee shall review and make recommendations for policies relating to school climate for the purpose of promoting positive gains in student achievement scores, student and teacher morale, community support, and student and teacher attendance, while decreasing student suspensions, expulsions, dropouts, and other negative aspects of the total school environment. Such review may include school climate ratings established pursuant to Code Section 20-14-33 for each school in the county school system and any independent school systems, if applicable. The committee may review, if available, nonidentifying data from student health surveys, data on environmental and behavioral indicators, data on student behavioral and school-based reactions, and teacher and parent survey instruments. The committee may recommend the use of positive behavioral interventions and supports and response to intervention, trauma informed care training, and the optimization of local resources through voluntary community, student, teacher, administrator, and other school personnel participation.

(g) The chief judge of the superior court of each county shall ensure that the committee meets at least twice annually to evaluate compliance with the protocol, effectiveness of the protocol, and appropriate modifications and to review and revise, if necessary, recommendations relating to school climate.

(h) Each local board of education shall report student attendance rates and aggregated student discipline data to the committee and the State Board of Education at the end of each school year, according to a schedule established by the State Board of Education.

20-2-698. Peace officers may take temporary custody of truant children away from home.

Any peace officer may assume temporary custody, during school hours, of any child subject to compulsory school attendance who is found away from home and who is absent from a public or private school or a home study program without a valid written excuse from school officials or from the parent or guardian in charge of the home study program.

20-2-701. Responsibility for reporting truants to juvenile or other courts.

Local school superintendents as applied to private schools, the Department of Education as applied to home study programs, or visiting teachers and attendance officers as applied to public schools, after written notice to the parent or guardian of a child, shall report to the juvenile or other court having jurisdiction under Chapter 11 of Title 15 any child who is absent from a public or private school or a home study program in violation of this subpart. If the judge of the court places such child in a home or in a public or private institution pursuant to Chapter 11 of Title 15, school shall be provided for such child. The Department of Education shall coordinate with local school superintendents with respect to attendance records and notification for students in home study programs.

REGULATIONS

160-4-8-.01. Student support services.

(2) Requirements.

(e) The LBOE shall provide School Social Work/Visiting Teacher Services by promoting home, school, and community cooperation to address the needs of the at-risk student population characterized by poverty, high absenteeism, academic failure, pregnancy, disruptive behavior or other student dysfunctions.

160-4-8-.15. Student discipline.

(2) Requirements.

(a) Each local board of education shall adopt policies designed to improve the student learning environment by improving student behavior and discipline. These policies shall provide for the development of age appropriate student codes of conduct that contain the following, at a minimum:

7. Guidelines and consequences resulting from failure to comply with compulsory attendance as required under O.C.G.A § 20-2-690.1.

160-5-1-.10. Student attendance.

(1) Definitions.

(a) Foster Care Student- a student who is in a foster home or otherwise in the foster care system under the Division of Family and Children Services of the Department of Human Services.

(b) Student Attendance Protocol- procedures to be used in identifying, reporting, investigating and prosecuting cases of alleged violations of O.C.G.A. § 20-2-690.1, relating to mandatory school attendance and appropriately addressing the issue with parents and guardians. The protocol shall also include recommendations for policies relating to tardiness.

(c) Student Attendance and School Climate Committee- a committee established, pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 20-2-690.2, by the chief judge of the superior court of each county for the purpose of ensuring coordination and cooperation among officials, agencies and programs involved in compulsory attendance issues, to reduce the number of unexcused absences from school, and to increase the percentage of students present to take tests which are required to be administered under the laws of this state, and to improve the school climate in each school.

(d) Student Teen Election Participant (STEP)- a program designed to permit full-time public, private, and home schooled high school students the opportunity to volunteer to work as poll officers during any primary, special, or general election according to the provisions set forth in O.C.G.A. § 21-2-92.

(e) Truant- any child subject to compulsory attendance who during the school calendar year has more than five days of unexcused absences.

(2) Requirements.

(a) School days missed as a result of an out of school suspension shall not count as unexcused days for the purpose of determining student truancy.

(b) Local boards of education shall adopt policies and procedures excusing students from school under the following circumstances, as a minimum. Policies may require submission of appropriate documentation.

1. Personal illness or when attendance in school endangers the student's health or the health of others.

(i) Local boards of education may require students to present appropriate medical documentation upon return to school for the purpose of validating that the absence is an excused absence. With proper verification a student may be eligible for hospital/homebound instruction as outlined in State Board of Education Rule 160-4-2-.31 Hospital/Homebound (HHB) Services.

2. A serious illness or death in a student's immediate family necessitating absence from school.

(i) In the event of a serious illness in a student's immediate family, local boards of education may require students to present appropriate medical documentation regarding the family member upon return to school for the purpose of validating that the absence is an excused absence.

3. A court order or an order by a government agency, including preinduction physical examinations for service in the armed forces, mandating absence from school.

4. The observation of religious holidays, necessitating absence from school.

5. Conditions rendering attendance impossible or hazardous to student health or safety.

6. Registering to vote or voting in a public election, which shall not exceed one day.

7. A student whose parent or legal guardian is in military service in the armed forces of the United States or the National Guard, and such parent or legal guardian has been called to duty for or is on leave from overseas deployment to a combat zone or combat support posting, shall be granted excused absences, up to a maximum of five school days per school year, for the day or days missed from school to visit with his or her parent or legal guardian prior to such parent's or legal guardian's deployment or during such parent's or legal guardian's leave.

8. A student whose parent or legal guardian is currently serving or previously served on active duty in the armed forces of the United States, in the Reserves of the armed forces of the United States on extended active duty, or in the National Guard on extended active duty may be granted excused absences, up to a maximum of five school days per school year, not to exceed two school years, for the day or days missed from school to attend military affairs sponsored events, provided the student provides documentation prior to absence from:

(i) A provider of care at or sponsored by a medical facility of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs; or

(ii) An event sponsored by a corporation exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code.

9. Nothing in Sections (2)(b)7 and (2)(b)8 of this rule shall be construed to require a local school system to revise any policies relating to maximum number of excused and unexcused absences for any purposes.

10. Any other absence not explicitly defined herein but deemed by the local school board of education to have merit based on circumstances, which may include non-school sponsored activities that meet the requirements set forth in section (2)(f)2. of this rule.

(c) Local boards of education shall count students present when they are serving as pages of the Georgia General Assembly as set forth in O.C.G.A. § 20-2-692.

(d) A foster care student who attends court proceedings relating to the student's foster care shall be credited as present by the school and shall not be counted as an absence, either excused or unexcused, for any day, portion of a day, or days missed from school as set forth in O.C.G.A. § 20-2-692.2.

(e) A student who successfully participates in the Student Teen Election Participant (STEP) program shall be counted as present and given full credit for the school day during which he or she served in the STEP program. No student shall be permitted to be absent from school or participate in the STEP program for more than two school days per school year.

(f) A student who participates in an activity or program sponsored by 4-H shall be credited as present by the school in which enrolled in the same manner as an educational field trip, and such participation in an activity or program sponsored by 4-H shall not be counted as an absence, either excused or unexcused, for any day portion of a day, or days missed from school as set forth in O.C.G.A. Section 20-20692.3

(g) Final course grades of students shall not be penalized because of absences if the following conditions are met:

1. Absences are justified and validated for excusable reasons.

2. Make up work for excused absences was completed satisfactorily.

(h) Local boards of education are not required to provide make-up work for unexcused absences.

i) Nothing in this rule should be construed to encourage student absences or as an approval of excessive unexcused absences.

(j) To reduce unexcused absences, each local board of education shall adopt policies and procedures that shall include but are not limited to:

1. Requiring the school system to notify the parent, guardian or other person who has control or charge of the student when such student has five unexcused absences. The notice shall outline the penalty and consequences of such absences and that each subsequent absence shall constitute a separate offense. After two reasonable attempts to notify the parent, guardian or other person who has charge of the student, the school system shall send written notice via certified mail with return receipt requested, or first-class mail; and

2. Prior to any action to commence judicial proceedings to impose a penalty on a parent, guardian, or other person residing in this state who has control or charge of the school aged child for failing to comply with compulsory attendance, a school system shall send a notice to such parent, guardian, or other person by certified mail, return receipt requested; and

3. Requiring public schools to provide to the parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of each student enrolled in public school a written summary of possible consequences and penalties for failing to comply with compulsory attendance. By September 1 of each school year or within 30 school days of a student's enrollment in the school system, the parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of such student shall sign a statement indicating receipt of such written statement of possible consequences and penalties. After two reasonable attempts by the school to secure such signature or signatures, the school shall be considered to be in compliance with this subsection if it sends a copy of the statement, via certified mail, return receipt requested, or first-class mail, to such parent, guardian, or other person who has control or charge of a child, or children. In addition, students age ten or older by September 1 shall sign a statement indicating receipt of written statement of possible consequences for non-compliance to the local system's policy.

(k) Each local board of education shall implement a progressive discipline process and a parental involvement process for truant students before referring the students to the juvenile or other court having jurisdiction.

(l) Each local board of education shall adopt as a part of the student codes of conduct developed pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 20-2-735. a definition of truancy that contains the minimum standards established by State Board of Education Rule 160-5-1-.10 Student Attendance and a summary of possible consequences and penalties for truancy.

(m) Pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 20-2-690.2, each local school system shall participate in a student attendance and school climate committee. Independent school systems may participate in the committee in the county where the system is located. Independent school systems whose geographic area encompasses more than one county may select one of such counties in which to participate. An independent school system that elects not to participate in the committee of the county where it is located shall request the chief judge of the superior court of a county encompassed by its geographic area to establish an independent student attendance and school climate committee.

1. The superintendent or the superintendent's designee of the local school system shall fully and actively assist in the planning, implementation, and evaluation activities of the local school system student attendance and school climate committee.

2. The superintendent, a certificated school employee, a local school board member from each public school system in the county, and a certificated school social worker from each public school system, if any are employed by the school system, shall serve on the student attendance and school climate committee.

3. Each local board of education shall consider and publicly announce its decisions regarding the recommendations of the student attendance and school climate committee.

4. Each local board of education shall report annual student attendance rates to the student attendance and school climate committee and the State Board of Education by September 1 following each school year.

5. The local school system shall be responsible for providing a copy of the written student attendance protocol to the Department by July 1, 2005, and upon any subsequent revisions or amendments.

6. The Department shall develop and disseminate exemplary model protocols that may be implemented by local boards of education.