Mornin' all - up early and no news.
I decided to try to legally "clear up" the school attendance issue with Haleigh by examining the local School Board policies and the State DOE policies.
Here is was I found. I will also post this in the media thread.
Putname County School Board Policy:
CHAPTER 5.00 – STUDENT SERVICES
Chapter 5 – Page #5
STUDENT ATTENDANCE 5.04
I. Regular school attendance is required between the ages of six (6) and sixteen (16) with certain exceptions outlined under Florida Statutes, Chapter 232.06. Principals in each school center shall determine the daily attendance of that center through an official attendance check taken during the first hour that the school center is in session. Classroom absenteeism shall be reported within the school on PCDSB Form E-10.
Attendance of all students for at least one hundred eighty (180) days is required except for absences due to illness or otherwise as provided by the law.
B. If a student has had at least five (5) unexcused absences, or absences for which the reasons are unknown, within a calendar month or ten (10) unexcused absences, or absences for which the reasons are unknown, within a ninety (90) calendar-day period, the student's primary teacher shall report to the school principal or his or her designee that the student may be exhibiting a pattern of non-attendance. The principal shall, unless there is clear evidence that the absences are not a pattern of non-attendance, refer the case to the school's child study team to determine if early patterns of truancy are developing. If the child study team finds that a pattern of non-attendance is developing, whether the absences are excused or not, a meeting with the parent must be scheduled to identify potential remedies.
F. If a child subject to compulsory school attendance will not comply with attempts to enforce school attendance, the parent, the guardian, or the Superintendent or his or her designee shall refer the case to the case staffing committee pursuant to S.984.12 and the Superintendent or his or her designee may file a truancy petition pursuant to the procedures in S.984.151.
Florida DOE State Policy
232.01 School attendance.--
(1)(a)1. All children who have attained the age of 6 years or who will have attained the age of 6 years by February 1 of any school year or who are older than 6 years of age but who have not attained the age of 16 years, except as hereinafter provided, are required to attend school regularly during the entire school term.
2. Children who will have attained the age of 5 years on or before September 1 of the school year are eligible for admission to public kindergartens during that school year under rules prescribed by the school board.
Statute 228.041
(28) HABITUAL TRUANT.--A habitual truant is a student who has 15 unexcused absences within 90 calendar days with or without the knowledge or consent of the student's parent or legal guardian, is subject to compulsory school attendance under s. 232.01, and is not exempt under s. 232.06 or s. 232.09, or by meeting the criteria for any other exemption specified by law or rules of the State Board of Education. Such a student must have been the subject of the activities specified in ss. 232.17 and 232.19(3), without resultant successful remediation of the truancy problem before being dealt with as a child in need of services according to the provisions of chapter 984.
Statute 232.06
232.06">232.06 Certificates of exemptions authorized in certain cases.--Children within the compulsory attendance age limits who hold valid certificates of exemption which have been issued by the superintendent shall be exempt from attending school. A certificate of exemption shall cease to be valid at the end of the school year in which it is issued.
Statute 232.17
232.17">232.17 Enforcement of school attendance.--The Legislature finds that poor academic performance is associated with nonattendance and that schools must take an active role in enforcing attendance as a means of improving the performance of many students. It is the policy of the state that the superintendent of each school district be responsible for enforcing school attendance of all children and youth subject to the compulsory school age in the school district. The responsibility includes recommending to the school board policies and procedures to ensure that schools respond in a timely manner to every unexcused absence, or absence for which the reason is unknown, of students enrolled in the schools. School board policies must require each parent or guardian of a student to justify each absence of the student, and that justification will be evaluated based on adopted school board policies that define excused and unexcused absences. The policies must provide that schools track excused and unexcused absences and contact the home in the case of an unexcused absence from school, or an absence from school for which the reason is unknown, to prevent the development of patterns of nonattendance. The Legislature finds that early intervention in school attendance matters is the most effective way of producing good attendance habits that will lead to improved student learning and achievement. Each public school shall implement the following steps to enforce regular school attendance
232.19
(2) NONENROLLMENT AND NONATTENDANCE CASES.--
(a) In each case of nonenrollment or of nonattendance upon the part of a child who is required to attend some school, when no valid reason for such nonenrollment or nonattendance is found, the superintendent shall institute a criminal prosecution against the child's parent.
232.19(3)
(3) HABITUAL TRUANCY CASES.--The superintendent is authorized to file a truancy petition, as defined in s. 984.03, following the procedures outlined in s. 984.151. If the superintendent chooses not to file a truancy petition, procedures for filing a child-in-need-of-services petition shall be commenced pursuant to this subsection and chapter 984. In accordance with procedures established by the district school board, the designated school representative shall refer a student who is habitually truant and the student's family to the children-in-need-of-services and families-in-need-of-services provider or the case staffing committee, established pursuant to s. 984.12, as determined by the cooperative agreement required in this section. The case staffing committee may request the Department of Juvenile Justice or its designee to file a child-in-need-of-services petition based upon the report and efforts of the school district or other community agency or may seek to resolve the truant behavior through the school or community-based organizations or agencies. Prior to and subsequent to the filing of a child-in-need-of-services petition due to habitual truancy, the appropriate governmental agencies must allow a reasonable time to complete actions required by this section and s. 232.17 to remedy the conditions leading to the truant behavior. Prior to the filing of a petition, the school district must have complied with the requirements of s. 232.17, and those efforts must have been unsuccessful
State Statute 982.12
984.12">984.12 Case staffing; services and treatment to a family in need of services.--
(1) The appropriate representative of the department shall request a meeting of the family and child with a case staffing committee to review the case of any family or child who the department determines is in need of services or treatment if:
(a) The family or child is not in agreement with the services or treatment offered;
(b) The family or child will not participate in the services or treatment selected; or
(c) The representative of the department needs assistance in developing an appropriate plan for services. The time and place selected for the meeting shall be convenient for the child and family.
Ok - what all that legal carp above actually says:
Local (Putnam County) says any child enrolled in public school is required to adhere to policy. Once a child is absent 5 times in one month or 10 times in 90 days, the child will be referred to "Child Study Team" within the school.
There are several State Statutes that are mentioned (I included them for reference) - they are:
232.01 - This one will clear up the AGE issue. It says a child is eligible at FIVE (5) years of age. Child may enroll BUT is required to abide by policies of all. So, once RC enrolled Haleigh in kindergarten of public school - he will be held to all attendance policies.
232.06 - This is an "exception" policy. Usually deals with severely handicapped children - NOT Haleigh. Although RC could have tried to do this - it requires ALOT of paperwork and ALOT of testing and all it does is "exempt her" for absences that relate to disability.
232.17 - General basic interpretation of responsibility for attendance, and enforcement by local boards and individual schools.
232.19 - This is the biggie! This is the one that says "yes, RC could be charged criminally for Haleigh's poor attendance.
984.12 - This starts to go into the "procedures" steps, protocol, however you want to call it - on how to get a parent/student to resolve attendance problems.
So, you can see -yes RC was required by law to followed attendance policy by simply registering Haleigh at a public school. Yes, he could be legally charged with a crime - BUT - it takes ALOT of teams, committees, meetings, and staffings and even MORE documentation before the actual charge comes down. Normally schools will try a "get tough" approach with a parent to "wake them up" and most times, this works. I think that is the stage that RC was in in reference to Haleigh's attendance. He had been "talked" to - it got his dandur up and he just relayed that to Crystal over the phone.
I know this is a very very long post. Sorry - but now we have the actual statutes and local policy to refer to. As I said I will also post this in the media thread so we have easy reference to it.
