District Attendance
Vision Statement - Attendance
All children from 6 to 17 come to school on time every day where they happily and productively study all day before going home to (a) caring concerned adult(s) who ask(s) them about their day and can help them study.
Central Falls Schools Administrative Policies
Truancy 1.5
Purpose: To define truancy in the Central Falls School District and to establish the procedures to be followed in seeking Rhode Island Family Court intervention, usually through the local Truancy Courts in the Middle schools. This is understood to be an extreme measure and only to be taken when school-based interventions have proved unsuccessful.
Definitions:
Truancy: Any child required to attend school in the Central Falls School District who is absent without a valid excuse for more than 10% of the school year to date is truant.
Tardy equivalent: In defining truancy, four unexcused tardies will equal one additional unexcused absence.
Required to attend: Any child who has completed six years of life before September 2 of any school year and has not completed eighteen years of life must attend school. The exception being a child who has completed sixteen years of age provided that the person having control of the child provides written permission to the district to terminate enrollment.
Valid excused absences: Funerals of immediate family, illness, court dates, and doctors' appointments (if, for some reason, they can not be scheduled for after- school hours) are valid excuses. Also, a student suspended or excluded by school authorities cannot attend school.
Applicable Statutes: A complaint against an adult under Rhode Island General Laws (RIGL) 16-19-1 may be filed in all elementary school (Grades 1 - 5) cases unless it is clear that the truancy is not due to a lack of parent(s)/responsible adult's responsibility. For middle and high school students, a petition may be filed against the child her/himself under RIGL 16-19-6.
Procedures: (to be accomplished in numerical order)
Actions by the Student's School Administrators:
1. An administrator or a guidance counselor will speak to a parent/responsible adult or make two unsuccessful phone calls attempts. S/he will log the date, time, duration, and content of conversation on a log sheet (template attached as Tab A).
2. Send one letter to parent/responsible adult alerting them of the school's concern (template attached as Tab B).
3. Make copies of letters sent to parents, dates of meetings dealing with attendance issues and plans that stemmed from them, as well as any other attempts to correct the problem and send them to the District Attendance Officer/Home Liaison Officer (HLO) together with the filled out the Family Court Supplementary School Information Sheet. (form attached as Tab C)
Actions of the Home Liaison Officer:
4. Speak by telephone (or make two attempts) with the student's parent/responsible adult about the student's excessive absences from school.
5. Visit the student's residence for a meeting with the student and her/his parent/responsible adult to develop a plan for the student to attend school daily and on time.
6. If the student still does not achieve satisfactory attendance or if a parent/responsible adult was not there in two visits, send a letter to parent’(s)/responsible adult's listed address informing her/him of the decision to proceed to RI Family Court.
7. Unless a parent/responsible adult contacts the HLO with a viable solution to the student's attendance problem within six school days of sending the letter, file the RI Family Court Petition. Except for elementary school students' parent/responsible adult who will be summoned to the Garrahy Judicial Complex in Providence, the Middle school students and their parent/responsible adults will be summoned to the Truancy Courts at Calcutt.
Contact Information:
Larry De Coste
DeCosteL@cfschools.net
Registration Center
521 Dexter Street
Central Falls, Rhode Island, 02863
Phone: (401) 727-6177 x107
Fax: (401) 727-6184 |
