FILE: JBE
Cf: IHAD
TRUANCY
The Acadia Parish School Board recognizes truancy as absence from class or school for any portion of a period or day without permission from home or school. Students shall not be allowed to leave the campus without proper permission at any time during the school day, including before school begins, or after school while waiting for their bus. Students shall remain on the campus at all times unless granted permission to be off-campus, or be subject to disciplinary action. Violations of attendance laws and regulations may lead to suspension and/or expulsion from school.
School personnel shall be expected to make every reasonable effort to assist a child who is habitually absent or tardy. A student shall be considered habitually absent or habitually tardy when either condition continues to exist after all reasonable efforts by any school personnel, truant officer, or other law enforcement personnel have failed to correct the condition after the fifth (5th) unexcused absence or fifth (5th) unexcused occurrence of being tardy within any school semester. Any student who is a juvenile and who is considered habitually absent from school or habitually tardy shall be reported by visiting teachers and Supervisors of Child Welfare and Attendance to the family or juvenile court of the parish or city as a truant child.
Tardy, for the purpose of notification, shall include, but not be limited to being late to school, or leaving or checking out of school unexcused prior to the regularly scheduled dismissal time at the end of the school day. However, it shall not include reporting late to class when transferring from one class to another during the school day.
ACADIA PARISH TRUANCY ASSESSMENT SERVICE CENTER (TASC)
The Acadia Parish School Board has entered into an interagency agreement with other public agencies in the parish in an effort to combat and reduce truancy in the parish by supplying children in critical developmental stages with support, guidance, and direction that prevents poor decision making and teaches and encourages the power of learning, responsibility, and resourcefulness. The TASC is a joint effort involving the Offices of the Mayors of Acadia Parish, Acadia Juvenile Services (OYD), the Acadia Parish School System, Crowley, Rayne, and Church Point City Police, Acadia Parish Sheriff's Office, Rayne and Crowley City Courts, Office of Community Services, and the Acadia Parish District Attorney's Office.
GUARDIAN RESPONSIBLE
With regard to any student in grades kindergarten (K) through eighth (8th) grade who is considered habitually absent or tardy, in any case where the student is the subject of a court ordered custody or visitation plan, the parent or legal guardian who is lawfully exercising actual physical custody or visitation of the student shall be responsible for the student’s attendance at school on those days and shall be solely responsible for any absence or tardiness of the child on such days.
Revised: September, 2008
Approved: November 3, 2008
Revised: September, 2009
Approved: January 11, 2010
Ref: La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:221, 17:223, 17:228, 17:233
Louisiana Children’s Code, Art. 728, 730
Board minutes, 11-5-01, 11-3-08, 1-11-10
Acadia Parish School Board