Page 22 - James F. Byrnes Freshman Academy 2019-2020 Student Planner

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.
20 GPP-11177