H. B. 2622
(By Delegate D. Miller)
[Introduced March 17, 1993; referred to the
Committee on Education.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections three, four and eleven,
article eight, chapter eighteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
relating to education; compulsory school attendance;
employment and qualifications of county director of school
attendance and assistants; duties; and school attendance as
condition of licensing for privilege of operation of motor
vehicle.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections three, four and eleven, article eight, chapter
eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 8. COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.
§18-8-3. Employment of county director of school attendance
and assistants; qualifications; salary and traveling
expenses; removal.
The county board of education of every county not later than
the first day of August of each year, shall employ the equivalent
of a full-time county director of school attendance if such the
county has a net enrollment of more than four thousand pupils, at
least a half-time director of school attendance if such the
county has a net enrollment of less than four thousand pupils and
such the assistant attendance directors as deemed necessary.
Such These persons shall must have the written recommendation of
the county superintendent.
The county board of education may set up such special and
professional qualifications for attendance directors and
assistants as are deemed expedient and proper and are consistent
with regulations of the state board of education relating
thereto. The minimum requirements of professional qualifications
for attendance directors and assistants are a bachelors degree,
with a certificate in social service and attendance or a person
working toward a certificate which would enable the person to be
employed on a year to year basis until full certification is
attained.
The attendance director or assistant director shall be paid
a monthly salary as fixed by the county board. Before receiving
such the monthly salary, the attendance director or assistant
director shall file with the county superintendent a certified
statement showing the activities in school attendance service for
the month and the number of days actually spent in the
performance of such duties.
The county board of education shall reimburse such employees
for their necessary traveling expenses upon presentation of a
monthly, itemized, sworn statement approved by the county
superintendent.
The power of removal of the county attendance director or an
assistant attendance director shall rest rests with the county
board of education:
Provided,
That reasons for contemplated
dismissal shall be reduced to writing, a copy of which shall be
furnished the director in question with opportunity to be heard
in his own behalf by the county board of education: The decision
of the county board of education shall be final
Provided,
however,
That the provisions of section seven, article two,
chapter eighteen-a of this code are also followed.
§18-8-4. Duties of attendance director and assistant directors;
complaints, warrants and hearings.
The county attendance director and the assistants shall
diligently promote regular school attendance. They shall
ascertain reasons for inexcusable absences from school of pupils
of compulsory school age as defined under this article and shall
take such steps as are, in their discretion, best calculated to
correct attitudes of parents and pupils which results in absences
from school even though not clearly in violation of law.
In the case of five consecutive or ten total unexcused
absences of a child during a single semester, the attendance
director or assistant shall serve written notice to the parent,
guardian or custodian of such child that the attendance of suchthe child at school is required and that within ten five days of
receipt of such notice the parent, guardian or custodian,
accompanied by the child, if possible, shall report in person to
the school the child attends for a conference with the principal
or other designated representative of the school in order to
discuss and correct the circumstances causing the inexcusable
absences of the child; and if the parent, guardian or custodian
does not comply with the provisions of this article, then the
attendance director or assistant shall make complaint against
such parent, guardian or custodian before a magistrate of the
county. The attendance director or assistant may serve such
notice for other absences from school found to be in violation of
law. For any similar subsequent offense in any school year no
notice shall be is required. 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 warrant for
the arrest of the accused shall issue to any officer authorized
by law to arrest persons charged with offenses against the state.
More than one warrant may be issued on the same complaint. The
warrant shall be executed within ten days of its issuance.
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 five days of execution
of the 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.
When any doubt exists as to the age of a child absent from
school, the attendance director shall have has authority to
require a properly attested birth certificate or an affidavit
from the parent, guardian or custodian of such the child, stating
age of such the child. The county attendance director or
assistant shall, in the performance of his duties, have has
authority to take without warrant any child absent from school in
violation of the provisions of this article and to place such the
child in the school in which such the child is or should be
enrolled.
The county attendance director shall devote such the 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 those other times as the duties of
an attendance director are required. All attendance 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 shall be is
responsible under direction of the county superintendent for the
efficient administration of school attendance in the county.
In addition to those duties directly relating to the
administration of attendance, the county attendance director and
assistant directors shall also perform the following duties:
(a) Assist in directing the taking of the school census tosee that it is taken at the time and in the manner provided by
law;
(b) Confer with principals and teachers on the comparison of
school census and enrollment for the detection of possible
nonenrollees;
(c) Cooperate with existing state and federal agencies
charged with enforcement of child labor laws;
(d) Prepare a report for submission by the county
superintendent to the state superintendent of schools on school
attendance, at such those times and in such the detail as may be
required; also, file with the county superintendent and county
board of education 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;
(e) Promote attendance in the county by the compilation of
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;
(f) Participate in school teachers' conferences with parents
and students;
(g) Assist in such other ways as the county superintendent
may direct for improving school attendance.
§18-8-11. School attendance as condition of licensing for
privilege of operation of motor vehicle.
(a) In accordance with the provisions of sections three and
five, article two, chapter seventeen-b of this code, thedepartment of motor vehicles shall deny a license or instruction
permit for the operation of a motor vehicle to any person under
the age of eighteen who does not at the time of application
present a diploma or other certificate of graduation issued to
the person from a secondary high school of this state or any
other state, or documentation that the person (1) is enrolled and
making satisfactory progress in a course leading to a general
educational development certificate (GED) from a state approved
institution or organization, or has obtained such certificate,
(2) is enrolled in a secondary school of this state or any other
state, and has a passing grade point average of at least one
point zero in a semester, or (3) is excused from such this
requirement due to circumstances beyond his or her control.
(b) The attendance director or chief administrator of a
county or a private school shall provide documentation of
enrollment status on a form approved by the department of
education to any student sixteen fifteen years of age or older
upon request who is properly enrolled in a school under the
jurisdiction of said official for presentation to the department
of motor vehicles on application for or reinstatement of an
instruction permit or license to operate a motor vehicle.
Whenever a student sixteen years of age or older withdraws from
school, except as provided in subsection (d) of this section,
the attendance director or chief administrator of a county or a
private school shall notify the department of motor vehicles of
such the withdrawal if it has been determined after a properhearing that the circumstances were not beyond the control of
that person. Within five days of receipt of such a notice, the
department of motor vehicles shall send notice to the licensee
that the license will be suspended under the provisions of
section three, article two, chapter seventeen-b of this code on
the thirtieth day following the date the notice was sent unless
documentation of compliance with the provisions of this section
is received by the department of motor vehicles before such that
time.
(c) For the purposes of this section, withdrawal shall be is
defined as more than ten five consecutive or fifteen ten days
total unexcused absences during a single semester. For the
purposes of this section, suspension or expulsion from school or
imprisonment in a jail or a penitentiary is not a circumstance
beyond the control of such person.
(d) Whenever the withdrawal from school of such student, or
such a student's failure to enroll in a course leading to or to
obtain a GED or high school diploma, is beyond the control of
such the student, or is for the purpose of transfer to another
school as confirmed in writing by the students parent or
guardian, no such notice shall be sent to the department of motor
vehicles to suspend the student's motor vehicle operator's
license, and if the student is applying for a license, the
attendance director or chief administrator of a county or a
private school shall provide the student with documentation to
present to the department of motor vehicles to excuse such thestudent from the provisions of this section. The county school
district superintendent or his designate (or the appropriate
school official of any private secondary school) with the
assistance of the county attendance director and any other staff
or school personnel, shall be sole judge of whether such the
withdrawal is due to circumstances beyond the control of such
that person:
Provided,
That the principal shall notify the
attendance director about any student who may be considering
withdrawing from school for the purpose of arranging a meeting to
discuss any alternatives that may be available to prevent the
withdrawal. Participants in the meeting shall include the
student, parent or guardian, guidance counselor, principal and
any other person deemed by the attendance director to be a
relevant participant.
NOTE: This bill establishes minimum qualifications for
school attendance directors and assistants; it provides that
removal procedures for these persons shall include those set out
in §18A-2-7; it reduces the number of unexcused absences from 10
to 5 before a parent or guardian is notified by the attendance
director or assistant to report for a conference on the absences;
it reduces the time from 10 days to 5 days for the conference on
absences; it reduces from 10 days to 5 days for the assignment of
a case in which a warrant has been issued for unexcused absences
to a magistrate; it eliminates the authority of the county
superintendent to assign other duties to attendance directors or
assistants during the time in excess of 200 days those persons
are hired; it adds an exception to persons under the age of 18
years who may be denied a license for the operation of a motor
vehicle, if that person has a passing grade point average of at
least 1.0; requires attendance directors or chief administrators
of county or private schools to provide documentation of
enrollment status of all students 15 years of age or older; and
sets up a mandatory conference to counsel students considering
withdrawing from school.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.