August 24, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
Students in DeKalb County are now subject to new truancy guidelines as outlined in state law.
The bill, which went into effect July 1, mandates how school districts across the state handle truant students.
Under the law, five unexcused absences now requires an “attendance contact meeting” between a school administrator and the student’s parent or guardian.
The purpose of the meeting will be to determine strategies to reduce the number of unexcused absences.
State truancy law did not previously require the meeting, and it permitted administrators to report unlawful attendance to county authorities after five unexcused absences if a parent and student failed to comply with attendance notices.
The bill also requires principals at the beginning of every year to “notify a child’s parent, in writing, that if the student is absent for an aggregate of five days during the school year without excuse, the child is subject to referral to juvenile court and that it is the parent’s responsibility to monitor the child’s school attendance.”
The measure, signed into law last year by Gov. Bill Haslam, is in an effort to reduce the number of truancy cases referred to Tennessee’s juvenile courts.
“It is basically a three tier approach to prevent truancy and keep students out of the court system as far as not attending school,” said Joey Reeder, Attendance Supervisor for the DeKalb County School System.
“In the past we have always sent out a letter after five unexcused absences and we will continue to do that but now when you get that five day letter you will have an appointed time to go to your child’s school for an attendance meeting. We will have a meeting and try to determine why your child is missing school and if there is anything we or you can do to help to get a grip on our attendance with children. If that approach doesn’t work then probably after seven absences there will be another meeting. It may be with the parents or just the student depending upon their age. If it is a high school student, we may not have the parents back. They will meet with our guidance counselors for an assessment to determine if there are underlying circumstances why they are not coming to school. Any student who doesn’t attend the meetings will automatically go to the next tier,” Reeder continued.
“Once a student gets into one of these three tiers, he or she will stay in that tier for the remainder of the year. You can’t start over. If you get to that third tier you will probably have to go to juvenile court. Its not something we want to do but we have to nip this in the bud,” added Reeder.
The three tier truancy policy for DeKalb County is as follows:
Tier I
Tier I of the progressive truancy intervention plan shall include the following:
A conference with the student and the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s)
An attendance contract, based on the conference, signed by the student, the parent(s)/guardian(s), and an attendance supervisor or designee. The contract shall include:
A specific description of the school’s attendance expectations for the student;
The period for which the contract is effective; and
Penalties for additional absences and alleged school offenses, including additional disciplinary action and potential referral to juvenile court; and
Regularly scheduled follow-up meetings to discuss the student’s progress.
Tier II
If a student accumulates additional unexcused absences in violation of the attendance contract in Tier I, the student will be subject to Tier II.
Under this tier, a school employee shall conduct an individualized assessment detailing the reasons a student has been absent from school. The employee may refer the student to counseling, community- based services, or other services to address the student’s attendance problems.
Tier III
This tier shall be implemented if the truancy interventions under Tier II are unsuccessful.
These interventions shall be determined by a team formed at each school. The interventions shall address student needs in an age-appropriate manner. Finalized plans shall be approved by the Director of Schools/designee.