H. B. 4023
(By Delegate Williams)
[Introduced January 10, 1996; referred to the
Committee on Education then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections three, four, six and seven,
article eight, chapter eighteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
relating to education; compulsory school attendance; county
directors of attendance and their duties; refusal or neglect
of county directors of attendance and other persons to
perform duties; aiding or abetting violations of compulsory
attendance; and criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections three, four, six and seven, 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 certified 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 assistant attendance directors as
deemed necessary. Such persons shall 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 attendance director or assistant director shall be paid
a monthly salary as fixed by the county board. Before receiving
such monthly salary, the based on a daily rate which shall be
commensurate with other director's daily rate of pay. 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
prepare attendance reports at the request of the county
superintendent.
The county board of education shall reimburse such the
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 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.
§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 and students who remain enrolled beyond
the sixteenth birthday 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 such
the child at school is required and that within ten days of
receipt of such the notice the parent, guardian or custodian,
accompanied by the child, 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 the parent,
guardian or custodian before a magistrate of the county. The
attendance director or assistant shall 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 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 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 summons or warrant may
be issued on the same complaint. The summons or 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 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 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 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 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 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
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 to
see 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 requested reports 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; 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;
(h) Make home visits of students who have excessive
unexcused absences, as provided above, or if requested by the
chief administrator, principal or assistant principal.
§18-8-6. Refusal or neglect of county attendance director and
other persons to perform duties; penalty.
Any county director of attendance director or other person
upon whom a duty is imposed under provisions of this article, who
refuses or neglects to perform any duty or duties so imposed upon
him, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not less than five nor more than fifty
dollars, and may be imprisoned not to exceed thirty days. In
addition thereto, said director or person having been convicted of refusal or negligence in the performance of duty as imposed by
this article shall be subject to removal from office or position
at the discretion of the county board of education under
provisions set forth by the public school employees evaluation
procedure as established by state law and board of education
policy.
§18-8-7. Aiding or abetting violations of compulsory attendance;
penalty.
Any person who induces or attempts to induce any child or
student unlawfully to absent himself from school, or who harbors
or employs any child or student of compulsory school age or any
student over sixteen years of age who is enrolled in a school
while the school to which he belongs and which he is required to
attend is in session, or who employs such the child or student
within the term of such the school on any day such the school is
in session without the written permission of the county
superintendent of schools, or for a longer period than such a
work permit may specify shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty-five
nor more than fifty dollars and may be confined in jail not less
than ten nor more than thirty days.
NOTE: This bill provides for certified county directors of
school attendance; and that directors be paid a monthly salary
based on daily rates commensurate with other directors. It provides for compulsory school attendance of persons who remain
enrolled in school beyond the age of 16 years; and authorizes the
issuance of a summons by a magistrate in addition to being able
to issue a warrant for violations of school attendance
requirements. The bill changes procedure for reports prepared by
the directors. The bill removes the criminal penalty for refusal
or neglect by county directors of attendance in performance of
their duties. And, it amends the provision relating to aiding or
abetting violations of compulsory attendance to include students
over the age of 16 years.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.