Site provides information and resources to address attendance, truancy, and chronic absenteeism, including early warning systems.

(a) Each district board of education shall develop, adopt, and implement policies and procedures regarding the attendance of students, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:38-25 through 31 and N.J.A.C. 6A:32-8 and 12.1, at the public schools of the school district or at day schools in which students are provided with equivalent instruction, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:38-25. The policies and procedures shall include, at a minimum:

• 1. The expectations and consequences regarding students' timely arrival of students to school and classes;
• 2. The expectations and consequences regarding attendance at school and classes;
• 3. A definition of unexcused absence that counts toward truancy, for the purpose of this section, that, at a minimum, shall be consistent with the definition of a school day, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:32-8.3;
• 4. School staff responses for unexcused absences:
• i. For up to four cumulative unexcused absences, the school district shall:
• (1) Make a reasonable attempt to notify the stu dent's parents of each unexcused absence prior to the start of the following school day;
• (2) Make a reasonable attempt to determine the cause of the unexcused absence, including through contact with the student's parents;
• (3) Identify in consultation with the student's parents needed action designed to address patterns of unexcused absences, if any, and to have the child return to school and maintain regular attendance;
• (4) Proceed in accordance with N.J.S.A. 9:6-1 et seq. and N.J.A.C. 6A:16-11 if a potential missing or abused child situation is detected; and
• (5) Cooperate with law enforcement and other au thorities and agencies, as appropriate;
• ii. For between five and nine cumulative unexcused absences, the school district shall:
• (1) Make a reasonable attempt to notify the stu dent's parents of each unexcused absence prior to the start of the following school day;
• (2) Make a reasonable attempt to determine the cause of the unexcused absence, including through contact with the student's parents;
• (3) Evaluate the appropriateness of action taken pursuant to (a)4i(3) above;
• (4) Develop an action plan to establish outcomes based upon the student's patterns of unexcused absences and to specify the interventions for sup porting the student's return to school and regular attendance, which may include any or all of the following:
• (A) Refer or consult with the building's intervention and referral services team, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:16-8;
• (B) Conduct testing, assessments or evaluations of the student's academic, behavioral and health needs;
• (C) Consider an alternate educational place ment;
• (D) Make a referral to or coordinate with a community-based social and health provider agency or other community resource;
• (E) Refer to a court or court program pursuant to (a)4iv below;
• (F) Proceed in accordance with N.J.S.A. 9:6-1 et seq. and N.J.A.C. 6A:16-10 if a potential missing or abused child situation is detected; and
• (G) Engage the student's family.
• (5) Cooperate with law enforcement and other au thorities and agencies, as appropriate.
• iii. For cumulative unexcused absences of 10 or more, a student between the ages of six and 16 is truant, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:38-25, and the school district shall:
• (1) Make a determination regarding the need for a court referral for the truancy, per (a)4iv below;
• (2) Continue to consult with the parent and the involved agencies to support the student's return to school and regular attendance;
• (3) Cooperate with law enforcement and other au thorities and agencies, as appropriate; and
• (4) Proceed in accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:38-28 through 31, Article 3B, Compelling Attendance at School, and other applicable State and Federal statutes, as required; and
• iv. A court referral may be made as follows:
• (1) When unexcused absences are determined by school officials to be violations of the compulsory education law, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:38-25, andthe district board of education's policies, in accord ance with (a) above, the parent may be referred to municipal court;
• (A) A written report of the actions the school has taken regarding the student's attendance shall be forwarded to the municipal court; or
• (2) When there is evidence of a juvenile-family crisis, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2A:4A-22.g, the student may be referred to Superior Court, Chancery Division, Family Part;
• (A) A written report of the actions the school has taken regarding the student's attendance shall be forwarded to the juvenile-family crisis intervention unit.

(b) For a student with a disability, the attendance plan and its punitive and remedial procedures shall be applied, where applicable, in accordance with the student's individualized education program, pursuant to 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400 et seq., the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; the procedural protections set forth in N.J.A.C. 6A:14; accommodation plan under 29 U.S.C. §§ 794 and 705(20); and individualized healthcare plan and individualized emergency healthcare plan, pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:16-2.3(b)3xii.

(c) All receiving schools pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:14-7.1(a), shall act in accordance with (a)4i above for each student with up to four cumulative unexcused absences.

• 1. For each student attending a receiving school with five or more cumulative unexcused absences, the absences shall be reported to the sending school district.
• i. The sending school district shall proceed in accordance with the district board of education policies and procedures pursuant to (a) above and the provisions of (a)4ii through iv and (b) above, as appropriate.

Any child between the ages of six and 16 years who shall repeatedly be absent from school, and any child of such age found away from school during school hours whose parent, guardian or other person having charge and control of the child is unable to cause him to attend school and any pupil who is incorrigible, actually vagrant, vicious, or immoral in conduct, shall be deemed to be a juvenile delinquent and shall be proceeded against as such.

Any attendance officer who shall find any child between six and 16 years of age who is a truant from school, shall take the child and deliver him to the parent, guardian or other person having charge and control of the child, or to the teacher of the school which such child is lawfully required to attend.

The attendance officer shall examine into all violations of this article, shall warn any child violating any of the provisions of this article and the parent, guardian or other person having charge and control of the child of the consequences of the violation if persisted in, and shall notify such person in writing to cause the child to attend school within five days from the date on which notice is served, and regularly thereafter. The attendance officer shall have full police power to enforce the provisions of this article and may arrest without warrant any vagrant child or habitual truant or any child who is habitually incorrigible or who is vicious or immoral in conduct or illegally absent from school.

The sheriff and his officers and all police officers and constables shall assist attendance officers in the performance of their duties.

A parent, guardian or other person having charge and control of a child between the ages of 6 and 16 years, who shall fail to comply with any of the provisions of this article relating to his duties, shall be deemed to be a disorderly person and shall be subject to a fine of not more than $25.00 for a first offense and not more than $100.00 for each subsequent offense, in the discretion of the court. In any such proceeding, the summons issuing therein, or in special circumstances a warrant, shall be directed to the alleged disorderly person and the child.

For the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this article, the board of education of each school district and the board of education of each county vocational school shall appoint a suitable number of qualified persons to be designated as attendance officers, and shall fix their compensation; except that if a county attendance officer or officers are appointed for any county, any district board of education of such county may be exempt from the appointment of a local attendance officer if such exemption is approved by the county superintendent. Each board shall make rules not inconsistent with the provisions of this article and subject to the approval of the commissioner, for the government of the attendance officers.

a. As used in this section, “chronically absent” shall be defined in rules and regulations promulgated by the Commissioner of Education within 90 days of the effective date of P.L.2018, c.23 (C.18A:38-25.1 et al.).

b. In the event that 10 percent or more of the students enrolled in a public school are chronically absent, the school shall develop a corrective action plan to improve absenteeism rates. The corrective action plan shall include, but need not be limited to, the following:

• (1) identifying problems and barriers to school attendance;
• (2) developing recommendations to address the problems and barriers to school attendance that have been identified;
• (3) outlining communication strategies to educate and inform parents on the importance of school attendance;
• (4) establishing protocols on informing and engaging parents when a child begins to show a pattern of absences; and
• (5) reviewing school policies to ensure that they support improved school attendance. In developing the corrective action plan, the school shall solicit input from parents of students currently attending the school. The solicitation shall include, at a minimum, a parental survey that includes questions related to parents’ beliefs regarding the reasons why students are chronically absent and recommendations on the best ways to improve attendance. In developing the corrective action plan, the school shall engage the school’s parent organization, if one exists, in identifying the causes of the school’s high absenteeism rate and possible solutions. If there is no parent organization at the school, the school shall hold a public meeting to provide parents with an opportunity to provide input during the development of the corrective action plan.

c. The school shall present the corrective action plan to the board of education. The school shall annually review and revise the corrective action plan, and present the revisions to the board, until the percentage of students who are chronically absent is less than 10 percent.

Document addresses school nurse's role in truancy and chronic absenteeism prevention and intervention.

Document addresses attendance, truancy, and chronic absenteeism, including early warning systems.