WEST virginia legislature
2017 regular session
for
By Delegates
Westfall, Cooper, Ambler, Wagner, Moye, Atkinson,
Marcum and Higginbotham
[
March 15, 2017
A BILL to amend and
reenact §18-8-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to documentation
of unexcused absences from compulsory school attendance; limiting excused
absences for personal illness or injury in the family to those of student’s
parent, guardian or custodian and requiring confirming statement from medical
provider; requiring all documentation related to absences be provided to school
no later than three days of occurrence; authorizing notice in the case of three
unexcused absences to be made by means other than written; removing provision
for designated representative of principal for conference on unexcused absences
and clarifying responsibility of administrative head or other chief
administrator of school for meeting; and making other technical clarifications.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-8-4 of the Code
of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted 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 shall diligently promote regular school attendance.
The director and assistants shall:
(1) Ascertain 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;
(2) Take such steps as 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) For the purposes of
this article, the following definitions shall apply:
(A) "Excused
absence" shall be defined to
include includes:
(i) Personal illness or
injury of the student; or in the family
(ii) Personal illness or
injury of the student’s parent, guardian or custodian: Provided, That the parent, guardian or custodian must provide a
statement from a medical, osteopathic or chiropractic physician, or physician’s
assistant, confirming the existence of the parent’s, guardian’s or custodian’s
illness or injury;
(ii) (iii) Medical or dental appointment with
written excuse from physician or dentist;
(iii) (iv) Chronic medical condition or disability
that impacts attendance;
(iv) (v) Participation in home or hospital
instruction due to an illness or injury or other extraordinary circumstance
that warrants home or hospital confinement;
(v) (vi) Calamity, such as a fire or flood;
(vi) (vii) Death in the family;
(vii) (viii) School-approved or county-approved
curricular or extra-curricular activities;
(viii) (ix) Judicial obligation or court appearance
involving the student;
(ix) (x) Military requirement for students enlisted
or enlisting in the military;
(x) (xi) Personal or academic circumstances
approved by the principal; and
(xi) (xii) Such other situations as may be further
determined by the county board: Provided, That absences of students with
disabilities shall be in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Improvement Act of 2004 and the
federal and state regulations adopted in compliance therewith; and.
(B) "Unexcused absence"
shall be means any absence not specifically included in the
definition of "excused absence"; and
(4) All documentation
relating to absences shall be provided to the school no later than three instructional
days after the occurrence.
(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 by written or other
means 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, administrative
head or other chief administrator or other designated representative
will be required.
(c) 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, administrative head or other
chief administrator 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 on the meeting.
(d) In the case of ten
total unexcused absences of a student during a school year, the attendance
director or assistant shall make 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) 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) When any doubt exists
as to the age of a student absent from school, the attendance director and
assistants have authority to require a properly attested birth certificate or
an affidavit from the parent, guardian or custodian of the student, stating age
of the student. In the performance of his or her duties, the county attendance
director and assistants have authority to 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) The county attendance
director and assistants 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
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) 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 times and in such 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 set forth student
absences that are excluded for accountability purposes. The absences that are
excluded by the rule shall 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 manner as the county superintendent may direct;
(6) Participate in school
teachers' conferences with parents and
students;
(7) Assist in such other
ways as the county superintendent may direct for improving school attendance;
(8) Make home visits of
students who have excessive unexcused absences, as provided above in
subsection-a of this section, or if requested by the chief administrator,
principal or assistant principal; and
(9) Serve as the liaison
for homeless children and youth.
.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.