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c. absences due to a recognized religious holiday of
the student’s
faith, and
d. absences due to activities that are approved in
advance by the principal
2. Unlawful absences include but are not limited to
a. absences of a student without the knowledge of
his/her parents, or
b. absences of a student without acceptable cause
with the knowledge of his/her parents
3. Suspension is not to be counted as an unlawful absence for
truancy purposes.
B. Truancy: The State Board of Education recognizes that truancy is
primarily an educational issue and that all reasonable, educationally
sound, corrective actions should be undertaken by the school district
prior to resorting to the juvenile justice system.
1. Truant: A child ages 6-17 meets the definition of a truant
when the child has three consecutive unlawful absences or a
total of five unlawful absences.
2. Habitual Truant: A “habitual truant” is a child, ages 12
-17,
who fails to comply with the intervention plan developed by
the school, the child, and the parent(s) or guardian(s) and who
accumulates two or more additional unlawful absences. This
child may need court intervention and an initial truancy
petition may be filed. The written intervention plan and
documentation of noncompliance must be attached to the
truancy petition asking for court intervention.
3. Chronic Truant: A “chronic truant” is a child 12
-17 years
who has been through the school intervention process, has
reached the level of a “habitual” truant, has been referred to
Family Court and placed on an order to attend school, and
continues to accumulate unlawful absences. Should other
community alternatives and referrals fail to remedy the
attendance problem, the “chronic” truant may be referred to
the Family Court for violation of a previous court order. All
school intervention plans existing to this point for this child
and family must accompany the Contempt of Court petition as
well as the written recommendation for the school to the court
on action the court should take.
Interventions for Problematic Attendance
To encourage and assist students in attending school regularly, the
school administrator or his/her designee will implement the following
intervention procedures.
