Sample Policy & Administrative Regulation
Information about sample policy and administrative regulation developed by the State School Attendance Review Board (SARB).
The State School Attendance Review Board (SARB), an advisory panel to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI), has developed a sample policy on attendance supervision that is consistent with state laws that became effective on January 1, 2017.
With the passage of Assembly Bill 2815 in 2016, the role of attendance supervisors has been expanded to include more effective practices to address chronic absenteeism and truancy. These changes are designed to help promote a culture of attendance and improve local systems to track student attendance by grade level and subgroup.
The new laws directly relate to the priorities districts must address in their Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAP). Addressing chronic absence is included as a State Priority in the Pupil Engagement section of the LCAP template.
The State SARB has developed this sample policy to help districts comply with regulations in California Education Code(EC) sections 48240, 48290 and 48291(d) to develop a process for investigating school attendance problems. School districts may adapt these policies and administrative regulations to local needs.
Districts also may find it helpful to review the effective practices described in Assembly Bill 2815 when adopting policies regarding the duties of attendance supervisors and assistant attendance supervisors.
Sample Draft - Board Policy - BP 5113.11
Students
Attendance Supervision
Pursuant to EC Section 48200, every child from the age of six to eighteen in the district is required to attend school regularly in order to make a successful transition to the next grade level and to graduate with a high school diploma. All enrolled students, regardless of age, will be held to the same district school attendance rules.
The Governing Board recognizes that a vigilant supervision of attendance to improve attendance rates and graduation rates and to reduce truancy rates, chronic absenteeism rates, and dropout rates is vital to the learning and achievement of children on the margins of the educational system. Reducing chronic absenteeism rates and reducing the dropout rates while improving graduation rates are district priorities reflected in the district LCAP.
Because supervision of attendance is an essential component of an effective school attendance program, the Superintendent will designate a district employee to supervise attendance. The Supervisor of Attendance will be responsible for managing an attendance program that reaches every student, is conducted in collaboration with local resources, uses chronic absenteeism and dropout data by grade level and pupil subgroup to modify interventions, and shares outcomes with the County Superintendent; all SARB representatives; and the Governing Board.
Among other duties that may be required by the Board shall be those specific duties related to compulsory full-time education, truancy, work permits, compulsory continuation education, and opportunity schools; classes; and programs. (EC48240)
It is the intent of the Governing Board that the Supervisor of Attendance shall promote a culture of attendance and establish a system to accurately track pupil attendance in order to achieve all of the following:Sample Policy & Administrative Regulation - School Attendance Review Boards (CA Dept of Education):
