FILE:  JBE

Cf:  IHAD

TRUANCY

The Lafayette 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 (5^th) unexcused absence or fifth (5^th) 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.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF PARENT/LEGAL GUARDIANS

The parent or legal guardian of a student shall enforce the attendance of the student at the school to which the student is assigned.  The parent or legal guardian of a truant student shall ensure that the student makes up missed school work by attending after-school tutoring sessions, weekend make-up classes, or other remediation opportunities, as determined by the School Board, until the student has caught up with his or her school work.  The parent or legal guardian shall also attend meetings at the school on at least a monthly basis relative to the student's progress until the student has caught up on his or her missed school work and any assistance fair conducted by the School District that provides information on supports available to families. 

The principal of each school or his/her designee shall note any concerns that school personnel have relative to a child's school attendance on the back of any Supplemental Security Income form that the school receives relative to that child.

With regard to any student in grades kindergarten (K) through eighth (8^th) 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.

Ref:    La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§14:92.2, 17:221, 17:223, 17:228, 17:233

Louisiana Children’s Code, Art. 728, Art. 730

Board minutes, 8-2-89, 12-16-98, 10-7-15, 7-19-24

Lafayette Parish School Board