The Board of Trustees believes that absenteeism, whatever the cause, may be an early warning sign of poor academic achievement and may put students at risk of dropping out of school. The Board desires to ensure that all students attend school in accordance with the state's compulsory education law and take full advantage of educational opportunities provided by the district.
(cf. 5113 - Absences and Excuses)
(cf. 5113.11 - Attendance Supervision)
The Superintendent or designee shall establish a system to accurately track student attendance in order to identify individual students who are chronic absentees and truants, as defined in law and administrative regulation, and to identify patterns of absence throughout the district. He/she shall provide the Board with data on school attendance, chronic absence, and truancy rates districtwide, for each school, and disaggregated for each numerically significant student subgroup as defined in Education Code 52052. Such data shall be used in the development of annual goals and specific actions for student attendance and engagement to be included in the district's local control and accountability plan and other applicable school and district plans.
(cf. 0400 - Comprehensive Plans)
(cf. 0420 - School Plans/Site Councils)
(cf. 0450 - Comprehensive Safety Plan)
(cf. 0460 - Local Control and Accountability Plan)
(cf. 0500 - Accountability)
The Superintendent or designee shall develop strategies that focus on prevention of attendance problems, which may include, but are not limited to, efforts to provide a safe and positive school environment, relevant and engaging learning experiences, school activities that help develop students' feelings of connectedness with the school, school-based health services, and incentives and rewards to recognize students who achieve excellent attendance or demonstrate significant improvement in attendance. The Superintendent or designee also shall develop strategies that enable early outreach to students as soon as they show signs of poor attendance.
(cf. 0410 - Nondiscrimination in District Programs and Activities)
(cf. 5126 - Awards for Achievement)
(cf. 5131 - Conduct)
(cf. 5131.2 - Bullying)
(cf. 5137 - Positive School Climate)
(cf. 5141.6 - School Health Services)
(cf. 5145.3 - Nondiscrimination/Harassment)
The Superintendent or designee shall consult with students, parents/guardians, school staff, and community agencies, as appropriate, to identify factors contributing to chronic absence and truancy.
Interventions for students with serious attendance problems shall be designed to meet the specific needs of the student and may include, but are not limited to, health care referrals, transportation assistance, counseling for mental or emotional difficulties, academic supports, efforts to address school or community safety concerns, discussions with the student and parent/guardian about their attitudes regarding schooling, or other strategies to remove identified barriers to school attendance. The Superintendent or designee may collaborate with child welfare services, law enforcement, courts, public health care agencies, other government agencies, and/or medical, mental health, and oral health care providers to make alternative educational programs and support services available for students and families.
(cf. 1400 - Relations Between Other Governmental Agencies and the Schools)
(cf. 5030 - Student Wellness)
(cf. 5146 - Married/Pregnant/Parenting Students)
(cf. 5147 - Dropout Prevention)
(cf. 6158 - Independent Study)
(cf. 6164.2 - Guidance/Counseling Services)
(cf. 6164.5 - Student Success Teams)
(cf. 6173 - Education for Homeless Children)
(cf. 6173.1 - Education for Foster Youth)
(cf. 6173.2 - Education of Children of Military Families)
(cf. 6175 - Migrant Education Program)
(cf. 6179 - Supplemental Instruction)
(cf. 6181 - Alternative Schools/Programs of Choice)
(cf. 6183 - Home and Hospital Instruction)
(cf. 6184 - Continuation Education)
(cf. 6185 - Community Day School)
Students who are identified as truant shall be subject to the interventions specified in law and administrative regulation.
(cf. 5113.12 - District School Attendance Review Board)
A student's truancy, tardiness, or other absence from school shall not be the basis for his/her suspension or expulsion. Alternative strategies and positive reinforcement for attendance shall be used whenever possible.
(cf. 5144 - Discipline)
(cf. 5144.1 - Suspension and Expulsion/Due Process)
The Superintendent or designee shall periodically report to the Board regarding the district's progress in improving student attendance rates for all students and for each numerically significant student population. Such information shall be used to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies implemented to reduce chronic absence and truancy and to make changes as needed. As appropriate, the Superintendent or designee shall engage school staff in program evaluation and improvement and in the determination of how to best allocate available community resources.
Legal Reference:
EDUCATION CODE
1740-1742 Employment of personnel to supervise attendance (county superintendent)
37223 Weekend classes
46000 Records (attendance)
46010-46014 Absences
46110-46119 Attendance in kindergarten and elementary schools
46140-46147 Attendance in junior high and high schools
48200-48208 Children ages 6-18 (compulsory full-time attendance)
48225.5 Work permits, entertainment and allied industries
48240-48246 Supervisors of attendance
48260-48273 Truants
48290-48297 Failure to comply; complaints against parents
48320-48325 School attendance review boards
48340-48341 Improvement of student attendance
48400-48403 Compulsory continuation education
48900 Suspension and expulsion
49067 Unexcused absences as cause of failing grade
52052 Accountability; numerically significant student subgroups
60901 Chronic absence
GOVERNMENT CODE
54950-54963 The Ralph M. Brown Act
PENAL CODE
270.1 Chronic truancy; parent/guardian misdemeanor
272 Parent/guardian duty to supervise and control minor child; criminal liability for truancy
830.1 Peace officers
VEHICLE CODE
13202.7 Driving privileges; minors; suspension or delay for habitual truancy
WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE
256-258 Juvenile hearing officer
601-601.4 Habitually truant minors
11253.5 Compulsory school attendance
CODE OF REGULATIONS, TITLE 5
306 Explanation of absence
420-421 Record of verification of absence due to illness and other causes
COURT DECISIONS
L.A. v. Superior Court of San Diego County, (2012) 209 Cal.App.4th 976
Management Resources:
CSBA PUBLICATIONS
Attendance Awareness Month, Fact Sheet, September 2014
ATTENDANCE WORKS PUBLICATIONS
Count Us In! Working Together to Show that Every School Day Matters, 2014
The Power of Positive Connections: Reducing Chronic Absence Through PEOPLE: Priority Early Outreach for Positive Linkages and Engagement, 2014
CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PUBLICATIONS
School Attendance Review Board Handbook: A Road Map for Improved School Attendance and Behavior, 2015
School Attendance Improvement Handbook, 2000
WEB SITES
CSBA: http://www.csba.org
Attendance Works: http://www.attendanceworks.org
California Association of Supervisors of Child Welfare and Attendance: http://www.cascwa.org
California Department of Education: http://www.cde.ca.gov
California Healthy Kids Survey: http://chks.wested.org
California School Climate, Health, and Learning Survey System: http://cal-schls.wested.org
Policy BURLINGAME SCHOOL DISTRICT
adopted: September 21, 2010 Burlingame, California
revised: January 15, 2019