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School Law in School Law in LouisianaLouisianaSchool Law in School Law in LouisianaLouisiana

Student Attendance IssuesStudent Attendance Issues

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• YOU HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL!!!!• Sara went into Billy’s room and

shook him awake with “Bill it’s time to get up to go to school!!”

• He replied, “Please Ma, I don’t want to go to school!!!!!”

• She said, “You have to go to school!!”

• Billy’s said, “I don’t want to go to school, the teachers all hate me, the kids all hate me, I don’t want to go to school!!!”

• She replied, “You have to go to school,

• You’re the Principal!!!!!!!!!

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Pierce v Society of Sisters 268 U.S. 510 (1925)

• The Compulsory Education Act of 1922 required parents or guardians to send children between the ages of eight and sixteen to public school in the district where the children resided. The Society of Sisters was an Oregon corporation which facilitated care for orphans, educated youths, and established and maintained academies or schools. This case was decided together with Pierce v. Hill Military Academy

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• The unanimous court ruled:– compulsory education laws were a

reasonable exercise of the power of the state.

– reasonable regulations for the operation of private schools was also a proper exercises of state powers.

– Requiring all students to attend public schools was not constitutional

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School Attendance Requirements

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Louisiana Child Welfare and Attendance Program• Goal:

– “The goal of the Child Welfare and Attendance Program is to ensure that all students have equal opportunity to succeed.”

– “In the interest of the child, it is necessary that the Child Welfare and Attendance Program identify and utilize all services and resources within and outside the school.”

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Parents with control or charge of a child must:

• send the child to a public or private day school; and

• assure the child regularly attends assigned classes during regular school hours established by the school board.

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Which Parent Decides Where to Send the Child to School When there is Joint Custody?

• Unless the custody order provides otherwise, the child’s domiciliary parent has authority to make all decisions affecting the child.

• There is a presumption that all major decisions made by the domiciliary parent are in the best interest of the child.

• The other parent can request the court to review all major decisions made by the domiciliary parent.

LSA-R.S. 9:335(B)(3)

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• Children may not be excused from school to work in any job, including agriculture and domestic service, at any time, even in their own homes or for their own parents or tutors.

Child Labor

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Compulsory Compulsory Attendance Attendance AgesAges

Compulsory Compulsory Attendance Attendance AgesAges

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General Requirements• A child is subject to the

compulsory attendance law from his 7th birthday until his 18th birthday – unless he graduates from high

school before his 18th birthday.

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Parental Consent to Withdraw from School

• A child may withdraw from school before graduation if the child is:– between 17 and 18 years old; and – has written consent from his parent, tutor,

or legal guardian.

• In such a case, the parent, tutor, or legal guardian is not subject to penalties for violation of compulsory attendance laws.

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General First Grade Age Requirements

• Generally, a child may enter a public school 1st grade class at the beginning of the public school session if:– the child is 6 years old on or before

September 30th of the calendar year in which the school year begins.

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1st Grade Academic Readiness• When kindergarten instruction is offered in

the public schools, every person having control or charge of an eligible child must:– send that child to a full-day public or

private kindergarten; or – ensure that the child is administered an

academic readiness screening by the public school system before the child is enrolled in the 1st grade.

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1st Grade Academic Readiness

• The requirement that a child successfully pass academic readiness screening before entering 1st grade also applies to:

– students who transfer to a Louisiana public school from out of state, and who do not meet the kindergarten attendance requirements; and

– students who are not able to meet kindergarten attendance requirements due to illness or extraordinary, extenuating circumstances.

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Age for Kindergarten Admission• A child may enter kindergarten when:

– he is one year younger than the age required for the child to enter 1st grade; or

– at a younger age when the child is identified and evaluated as gifted and the public school board has established rules to allow such children to enter kindergarten.

• These children are eligible to enter 1st grade when:– they successfully complete kindergarten; and– all other applicable entrance requirements

have been met.

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Compulsory Attendance Below the Age of 7

• The compulsory attendance law applies to children below 7 years of age who are legally enrolled in school.

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Compulsory Compulsory Attendance for Attendance for Homeless ChilrenHomeless Chilren

Compulsory Compulsory Attendance for Attendance for Homeless ChilrenHomeless Chilren

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Homeless Children• A homeless individual is an individual

“who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence and/or who has a primary nighttime residence that is a short-term or transitional shelter, or a place not designed for/or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.”

Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act (P.L. 100-645)

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Homeless Children• Louisiana definitions include children and youth living

in the following types of situations– Transitional or emergency shelters– Trailer parks, camping grounds, vehicles because

they lack adequate living accommodations– Doubled-up in housing because of loss of housing or

similar circumstances that force them to share housing

– Motels and weekly-rate apartments for lack of shelter space

– Foster children and youth placed for lack of shelter space

– Migratory children and youth staying in accommodations that are unfit for habitation

– Children or youth who left home and live n runaway shelters, abandoned buildings, with friends, on the streets, in parks or other inadequate accommodations

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Compulsory Attendance for Compulsory Attendance for Children with DisabilitiesChildren with DisabilitiesCompulsory Attendance for Compulsory Attendance for Children with DisabilitiesChildren with Disabilities

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Compulsory Attendance for Children with Disabilities

• In Louisiana, a free appropriate education must be available to:– all disabled children between 3 and

21 years of age inclusive; and– disabled students who have been

suspended or expelled from school.

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Children with Disabilities• The term “child with a disability”

means:– a child who has been evaluated in

accordance with Louisiana State Department of Education regulations;

– who has been determined to have a disability; and

– who by reason of that disability, needs special education and related services.

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Children with Disabilities• Children with disabilities are subject to

the Louisiana compulsory attendance law.

• The person who has charge of a disabled child must enforce the child’s attendance at the special schools or classes provided by the State or by a public school board.

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Children with Disabilities• A child with disabilities may be exempt from

compulsory attendance laws when there is written certification that:– the child is mentally, physically, or emotionally

incapacitated to perform school duties; or– the child is unable to profit from further school

experience.

• The written certification must be made by a:– psychiatrist;– psychologist;– recognized evaluation center or clinic; or – other professionally qualified person or agency

designated by the parish or city school board.

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Student and Student and Parent Parent Statements of Statements of ComplianceCompliance

Student and Student and Parent Parent Statements of Statements of ComplianceCompliance

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Statements of Compliance by Students and Parents• Public school students in the 4th through the

12th grade and their parents or guardians must sign an annual statement of compliance that commits them to ensure:

– that the child attends school daily, except when the absence is due to illness or another excused absence; and

– that the child arrives at school on time each day.

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Student and Parental Statements of Compliance

• Public school boards must adopt rules and regulations to implement the statement of compliance requirements.

• The rules and regulations must include, but are not limited to, appropriate action to be taken against any student or parent who fails to comply with the signed statement of compliance.

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Home Study Programs• A court may order children placed by their

parent in a home study program to be educated in public school when the parent’s decision is not in the best interest of the children.

Donna G.R. v. James B.R., 877 So.2d 1164 (La. App. 2nd Cir. 2004)

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Home Study Programs• Factors a court may use to determine that a Home

Study Program is not in the best interest of the child:– the parent’s lack of education– the method of teaching the parent is using in the

home study program– the time invested by the child in the home study

program– the parent’s failure to formally comply with the

statutory requirements for annual review and approval of the home study program by the SBESE.

– poor test scores on the CAT or LEAP test

Donna G.R. v. James B.R., 877 So.2d 1164 (La. App. 2nd Cir. 2004).

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Exemptions from Compulsory Attendance

• Children are exempt from compulsory attendance when:– the child lives outside the boundaries of a

city, town or municipality, more than 2½ miles from a school of suitable grade, and the public school board does not provide adequate free transportation; or

– the child lives more than 1½ miles from a transfer route providing transportation furnished by a public school board to a school of suitable grade.

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Exemptions from Compulsory Attendance• A minor emancipated by marriage:

– is relieved of parental control; and – is no longer subject to the compulsory

attendance law.

• For the purposes of compulsory attendance, the Louisiana Supreme Court has declined to find that a minor female’s husband has control or charge of his wife in the manner formerly exercised by the wife’s parent or guardian.

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School Board Responsibilities

• A public school board must provide a school placement and an education to children temporarily residing within the school board’s jurisdiction who:– have no permanent address;– have been abandoned by their parents;

and/or– are in foster care pursuant to placement

through the Department of Social Services.

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School Board Responsibilities

• A public school board is not required to enroll any child who is not permitted by another school system to attend school either permanently or temporarily because of a disciplinary action.

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School Responsibilities• Each school must develop and implement a

system to notify the person responsible for the child’s school attendance when a child has been absent from school:– for 5 days in a school that operates on a

semester basis; or– for 10 days in schools that do not operate on

a semester basis. LSA RS 17:221

• The system used by the school must:– try to provide verbal notification; and– then provide written notification.

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Notification of Enrollment in Private Schools & Adult Education Programs

• Written notification of enrollment must be provided for every student who attended a public school immediately before enrolling in the private school or adult education program by every:– approved private school;– non-approved private school; and – publicly funded adult education

program.

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Excused Absences• A child may be temporarily

excused from school if:– the child is personally ill; and– the child’s school attendance would

endanger the health of the child or the child’s classmates.

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Excused Absences• A child may be temporarily excused from

school if:– there is a serious illness in the child’s

family that would reasonably necessitate the child’s absence from school; and

– the family illness has:• been substantiated in writing by a

Louisiana licensed physician; or• the child’s absence is reasonably

necessary in the judgment of the visiting teacher or the supervisor of child welfare and attendance.

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Excused Absences• A child may be temporarily excused

from school:– at the time of a death in the child’s

immediate family.– The absence may not exceed one week.– The absence must be because of the death.– The absence must occur at the time of the

death.

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Excused Absences

• A child may be temporarily excused from school for:– the observance of special and recognized

holidays of the child’s own religious faith.

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Public School Students Who Are Habitually Absent or Tardy• A public school student must be considered

habitually absent or habitually tardy when any of the following occur:– after the 5th unexcused absence in any

month; or– after the 5th unexcused tardy in any

month; or– if a pattern of 5 absences in a month is

established; and– after all reasonable efforts of the principal

and the teacher have failed to correct either condition.

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Public School Reporting Requirements

• A public school principal or his designee, with the aid of teachers, must file a written report with the visiting teacher or supervisor of child welfare and attendance showing:– the dates the student was absent or tardy;– the dates and results of school contacts with

the home; and– any other information that may be needed.

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Public School Reporting Requirements

• A juvenile student who is habitually absent from school or habitually tardy must be reported as a truant child to the family or juvenile court by:– visiting teachers; and – supervisors of child welfare and attendance.

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Non-Public School Students Who Are Habitually Absent or Tardy

• In a nonpublic school, the student is considered habitually absent or habitually tardy when:– the student is absent or tardy for more than

5 days in any month without approval of the person responsible for his school attendance; and

– the principal has filed a report showing:• the dates of the student’s absence; and• the dates and results of school contacts

with the home. 2011

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Consequences for Violation of Compulsory Attendance• Penalties for violation of Louisiana

compulsory attendance law are imposed upon the parents rather than student.

• A parent who violates the provisions of LSA-R.S. 17:221 or LSA-R.S. 17:234 will be fined not more than $250 or imprisoned for not more than 30 days or both

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Consequences for Violation of Compulsory Attendance

• Benefit recipients under the Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program (FITAP) must provide documentation that their school-aged child has not been absent for more than 15 school days during the previous 6 month period except when:

– a licensed health-care provider certifies the child’s absence was due to the child’s illness;

– the child’s absence was due to a death in the child’s immediate family; or

– when the child is participating in an approved home study program.

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Consequences for Violation of Compulsory Attendance• No FITAP benefits may be paid during the time that a child

does not meet school attendance requirements,.

• The recipient must provide monthly documentation of the child’s attendance while during the probationary period.

• The recipient will remain on probationary status until the child’s school attendance during the preceding 6 months meets the requirements of the statute.

• The child’s school must provide documentation of the child’s attendance to a recipient who requests it.

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Consequences for Violation of Compulsory Attendance Law

• Persons are prohibited from enticing, intimidating, persuading, compelling, and/or soliciting a child to be absent from school to participate in unauthorized demonstrations.

• Persons who violate the provisions of LSA-R.S. 17:221.1 shall be fined not more than $100.00 or imprisoned for not more than 10 days, or both.

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