(a) A local educational agency that receives a grant shall use the grant funds for planning, implementation, and evaluation of activities in support of evidence-based, nonpunitive programs and practices to keep the state’s most vulnerable pupils in school. These activities shall complement or enhance the actions and services identified to meet the local educational agency’s goals as identified in its local control and accountability plan pursuant to Section 47606.5, 52060, or 52066, as applicable. These activities may include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

• (1) Establishing a community school, as defined in Section 33435.
• (2) Implementing activities or programs to improve attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism, including, but not limited to, early warning systems or early intervention programs.

(a) The governing board of each school district and each county superintendent of schools shall appoint a supervisor of attendance and any assistant supervisors of attendance as may be necessary to supervise the attendance of pupils in the school district or county. The governing board of the school district or county superintendent of schools shall prescribe the duties of the supervisor of attendance and assistant supervisors of attendance to include, among other duties that may be required, those specific duties related to compulsory full-time education, truancy, work permits, compulsory continuation education, and opportunity schools, classes, and programs, now required of the attendance supervisors by this chapter and Article 4 (commencing with Section 48450) of Chapter 3 and Article 2 (commencing with Section 48640) of Chapter 4. (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that in performing his or her duties, the supervisor of attendance promote a culture of attendance and establish a system to accurately track pupil attendance in order to achieve all of the following:

• (1) Raise the awareness of school personnel, parents, guardians, caregivers, community partners, and local businesses of the effects of chronic absenteeism and truancy and other challenges associated with poor attendance.
• (2) Identify and respond to grade level or pupil subgroup patterns of chronic absenteeism or truancy.
• (3) Identify and address factors contributing to chronic absenteeism and habitual truancy, including suspension and expulsion.
• (4) Ensure that pupils with attendance problems are identified as early as possible to provide applicable support services and interventions.
• (5) Evaluate the effectiveness of strategies implemented to reduce chronic absenteeism rates and truancy rates. (c) When a pupil with a temporary disability, as defined in Section 48206.3, is receiving individual instruction in the home or a hospital or other residential health facility, the supervisor of attendance shall ensure that absences from the pupil’s regular school program are excused until the pupil is able to return to the regular school program. (d) The supervisor of attendance may provide support services and interventions, which may include, but are not limited to, any or all of the following:
• (1) A conference between school personnel, the pupil’s parent or guardian, and the pupil.
• (2) Promoting cocurricular and extracurricular activities that increase pupil connectedness to school, such as tutoring, mentoring, the arts, service learning, or athletics.
• (3) Recognizing pupils who achieve excellent attendance or demonstrate significant improvement in attendance.
• (4) Referral to a school nurse, school counselor, school psychologist, school social worker, and other pupil support personnel for case management and counseling.
• (5) Collaboration with child welfare services, law enforcement, courts, public health care agencies, or government agencies, or medical, mental health, and oral health care providers to receive necessary services.
• (6) Collaborating with school study teams, guidance teams, school attendance review teams, or other intervention-related teams to assess the attendance or behavior problem in partnership with the pupil and his or her parents, guardians, or caregivers.
• (7) In schools with significantly higher rates of chronic absenteeism, identify barriers to attendance that may require schoolwide strategies rather than case management.
• (8) Referral for a comprehensive psychosocial or psychoeducational assessment, including for purposes of creating an individualized education program for an individual with exceptional needs, as that term is defined in Section 56026, or plan adopted for a qualified handicapped person, as that term is defined in regulations promulgated by the United States Department of Education pursuant to Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 794).
• (9) Referral to a school attendance review board established by the county or by a school district pursuant to Section 48321 or to the probation department pursuant to Section 48263.
• (10) Referral to a truancy mediation program operated by the county’s district attorney or probation officer pursuant to Section 48260.6.

Upon a pupil’s initial classification as a truant, the school district shall notify the pupil’s parent or guardian using the most cost-effective method possible, which may include electronic mail or a telephone call: (a) That the pupil is truant. (b) That the parent or guardian is obligated to compel the attendance of the pupil at school. (c) That parents or guardians who fail to meet this obligation may be guilty of an infraction and subject to prosecution pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 48290). (d) That alternative educational programs are available in the school district. (e) That the parent or guardian has the right to meet with appropriate school personnel to discuss solutions to the pupil’s truancy. (f) That the pupil may be subject to prosecution under Section 48264. (g) For a pupil under 18 years of age but 13 years of age or older, that the pupil may be subject to suspension, restriction, or delay of the pupil’s driving privilege pursuant to Section 13202.7 of the Vehicle Code. (h) That it is recommended that the parent or guardian accompany the pupil to school and attend classes with the pupil for one day.

Any pupil is deemed an habitual truant who has been reported as a truant three or more times per school year, provided that no pupil shall be deemed an habitual truant unless an appropriate district officer or employee has made a conscientious effort to hold at least one conference with a parent or guardian of the pupil and the pupil himself, after the filing of either of the reports required by Section 48260 or Section 48261. For purposes of this section, a conscientious effort means attempting to communicate with the parents of the pupil at least once using the most cost-effective method possible, which may include electronic mail or a telephone call.

(a) If a minor pupil in a school district of a county is a habitual truant, or is a chronic absentee, as defined in Section 60901, or is habitually insubordinate or disorderly during attendance at school, the pupil may be referred to a school attendance review board, or to the probation department for services if the probation department has elected to receive these referrals. The school district supervisor of attendance, or any other persons the governing board of the school district or county may designate, making the referral shall provide documentation of the interventions undertaken at the school to the pupil, the pupil’s parents or guardians, and the school attendance review board or probation department and shall notify the pupil and parents or guardians of the pupil, in writing, of the name and address of the school attendance review board or probation department to which the matter has been referred and of the reason for the referral. The notice shall indicate that the pupil and parents or guardians of the pupil will be required, along with the referring person, to meet with the school attendance review board or probation officer to consider a proper disposition of the referral. (b)

• (1) If the school attendance review board or probation officer determines that available community services can resolve the problem of the truant or insubordinate pupil, then the school attendance review board or probation officer shall direct the pupil or the pupil’s parents or guardians, or both, to make use of those community services. The school attendance review board or probation officer may require, at any time that it determines proper, the pupil or parents or guardians of the pupil, or both, to furnish satisfactory evidence of participation in the available community services.
• (2) If the school attendance review board or probation officer determines that available community services cannot resolve the problem of the truant or insubordinate pupil or if the pupil or the parents or guardians of the pupil, or both, have failed to respond to directives of the school attendance review board or probation officer or to services provided, the school attendance review board may, pursuant to Section 48263.5, notify the district attorney or the probation officer, or both, of the county in which the school district is located, or the probation officer may, pursuant to Section 48263.5, notify the district attorney, if the district attorney or the probation officer has elected to participate in the truancy mediation program described in that section. If the district attorney or the probation officer has not elected to participate in the truancy mediation program described in Section 48263.5, the school attendance review board or probation officer may direct the county superintendent of schools to, and, upon that direction, the county superintendent of schools shall, request a petition on behalf of the pupil in the juvenile court of the county. Upon presentation of a petition on behalf of a pupil, the juvenile court of the county shall hear all evidence relating to the petition. The school attendance review board or the probation officer shall submit to the juvenile court documentation of efforts to secure attendance as well as its recommendations on what action the juvenile court should take in order to bring about a proper disposition of the case. (c) In any county that has not established a school attendance review board, if the school district determines that available community resources cannot resolve the problem of the truant or insubordinate pupil, or if the pupil or the pupil’s parents or guardians, or both, have failed to respond to the directives of the school district or the services provided, the school district, pursuant to Section 48260.6, may notify the district attorney or the probation officer, or both, of the county in which the school district is located, if the district attorney or the probation officer has elected to participate in the truancy mediation program described in Section 48260.6.

(a)  In any county which has established a county school attendance review board pursuant to Section 48321, the school attendance review board may notify the district attorney or the probation officer, or both, of the county in which the school district is located, or the probation officer may notify the district attorney, by first–class mail or other reasonable means, of the following if the district attorney or the probation officer has elected to participate in the truancy mediation program described in subdivision (b):

• (1)  The name of each pupil who has been classified as a truant and concerning whom the school attendance review board or the probation officer has determined:
  • (A)  That available community services cannot resolve the truancy or insubordination problem.
  • (B)  That the pupil or the parents or guardians of the pupil, or both, have failed to respond to directives of the school attendance review board or probation officer or to services provided.
• (2)  The name and address of the parent or guardian of each pupil described in paragraph (1).

(b)  Upon receipt of notification provided pursuant to subdivision (a), the district attorney or the probation officer may notify the parents or guardians of each pupil concerning whom notification has been received, by first–class mail or other reasonable means, that they may be subject to prosecution pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 48290) of Chapter 2 of Part 27 for failure to compel the attendance of the pupil at school. The district attorney or the probation officer may also request the parents or guardians and the child to attend a meeting in the district attorney’s office or at the probation department pursuant to Section 601.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code to discuss the possible legal consequences of the child’s truancy. Notice of the meeting shall be given pursuant to Section 601.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

Any pupil subject to compulsory full-time education or to compulsory continuation education who is absent from school without a valid excuse for 10 percent or more of the schooldays in one school year, from the date of enrollment to the current date, is deemed a chronic truant, provided that the appropriate school district officer or employee has complied with Sections 48260, 48260.5, 48261, 48262, 48263, and 48291.

A minor who is classified as a truant pursuant to Section 48260 or 48261 may be required to attend makeup classes conducted on one day of a weekend pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 37223 and is subject to the following:

(a) The first time a truancy report issued, the pupil and, as appropriate, the parent or legal guardian, may be requested to attend a meeting with a school counselor or other school designee to discuss the root causes of the attendance issue and develop a joint plan to improve the pupil’s attendance.

(b) The second time a truancy report issued within the same school year, the pupil may be given a written warning by a peace officer as specified in Section 830.1 of the Penal Code. A record of the written warning may be kept at the school for not less than two years or until the pupil graduates or transfers from that school. If the pupil transfers from that school, the record may be forwarded to the school receiving the pupil’s school records. A record of the written warning may be maintained by the law enforcement agency in accordance with that law enforcement agency’s policies and procedures. The pupil may also be assigned by the school to an afterschool or weekend study program located within the same county as the pupil’s school. If the pupil fails to successfully complete the assigned study program, the pupil shall be subject to subdivision (c).

(c) The third time a truancy report is issued within the same school year, the pupil shall be classified as a habitual truant, as defined in Section 48262, and may be referred to, and required to attend, an attendance review board or a truancy mediation program pursuant to Section 48263 or pursuant to Section 601.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. If the school district does not have a truancy mediation program, the pupil may be required to attend a comparable program deemed acceptable by the school district’s attendance supervisor. If the pupil does not successfully complete the truancy mediation program or other similar program, the pupil shall be subject to subdivision (d).

(d) The fourth time a truancy is issued within the same school year, the pupil may be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court that may adjudge the pupil to be a ward of the court pursuant to Section 601 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. If the pupil is adjudged a ward of the court, the pupil shall be required to do one or more of the following:

• (1) Performance at court-approved community services sponsored by either a public or private nonprofit agency for not less than 20 hours but not more than 40 hours over a period not to exceed 90 days, during a time other than the pupil’s hours of school attendance or employment. The probation officer shall report to the court the failure of the pupil to comply with this paragraph.
• (2) Payment of a fine by the pupil of not more than fifty dollars ($50) for which a parent or legal guardian of the pupil may be jointly liable. The fine described in this paragraph shall not be subject to the assessments of Section 1464 of the Penal Code or any other applicable section.
• (3) Attendance of a court-approved truancy prevention program.
• (4) Suspension or revocation of driving privileges pursuant to Section 13202.7 of the Vehicle Code. This subdivision shall apply only to a pupil who has attended a school attendance review board program, a program operated by a probation department acting as a school attendance review board, or a truancy mediation program pursuant to subdivision (c).