FILE: JBE
Cf: IHAD
TRUANCY
The East Baton Rouge 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, after school while waiting for their bus, or any disciplinary session which the student has been directed to attend. 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.
The East Baton Rouge School Board operates the Truancy Center to provide prevention and intervention services to children who are at risk of becoming truants or dropouts. Referrals to the Truancy Center of students suspected as truant may be handled in any one of the following ways:
Parent/guardian and the public are encouraged to call the Truancy Center and report any student suspected as truant.
If a school has knowledge of a student being a truant, the school should report the information to the Truancy Center or to their Child Welfare and Attendance Worker.
Police officers have been authorized to pick up students between the ages of six (6) and seventeen (17) that are found on the street during school hours. Police officers can call the Truancy Center or the attending school of the student if they cannot determine whether the student is truant.
Once processing has been completed, the student's parent/guardian shall be contacted and the student immediately turned over to the parent/guardian or returned to school. The Truancy and Child Welfare and Attendance Offices shall make periodic follow-ups on these students.
Revised: September, 2008
Approved: October 16, 2008
Ref: La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:221, 17:223, 17:228, 17:233
La. Children’s Code, Art. 728, Art. 730
Board minutes, 10-16-08
East Baton Rouge Parish School Board