School Attendance Review Board
Attendance, SARB, & SARC Information

It is the purpose of this flyer to provide information pertaining to attendance, attendance codes and the SARB process.

It is the position of the Office of Student and Community Services that all children have a right to an education and that it is the responsibility of the parents and guardians, school site staff members and the district’s staff to work together as a team for the betterment of the child’s education K-12.

This information has been sent to you because an individual at your son/daughter’s school site has a concern.

Please take the time to read this material and to reflect upon you child’s future!


Are you aware?

• Students with regular school attendance tend to have higher achievement in school and a greater probability of success in college.
• Students who are not tardy and who have regular attendance tend to have better relationships with their peers and with staff members.
• Students averaging 15 days of absence a year will miss a year of instruction by the 12th grade and elementary school students who average 29.5 days of absence a year will miss a year of instruction by the end of the 6th grade.
• Students who are habitually tardy are developing habits that may last for a lifetime. Please keep in mind that the #1 reason people are fired is because they are late to work!
• There is an absolute relationship between students who drop out of school and attendance problems during the elementary or middle school years.
• On a national average, students who drop out of school tend to work within five dollars of minimum wage for the majority of their lives. Students with a high school diploma will earn approximately $240,000 more over a lifetime than a drop out and a college graduate will earn close to a half a million dollars more over a lifetime.

Attendance Problems

There are four main categories of attendance problems facing students today:

1. Excessive tardiness
2. Excessive absences
3. Truancy
4. Dropping out

For many students, these four categories represent a cycle that takes many years to develop.

The cycle often begins with an elementary student whose family has a transportation problem or who has a medical condition, such as asthma, etc. Please keep in mind that the district does not want students who are ill attending classes. However the district does expect effective communication and students to make-up work assignments missed.

Families who address these issuess tend to solve their problem early. For example, families who coordinate their efforts and their doctor’s efforts, and their school site’s efforts tend to have successful students.

Families who do not make regular school attendance a high priority in the student’s early years, have difficulty changing their son/daughter’s habits during the high school years.


1 Day a Month

Most major industries today permit only one absence or one tardy to work per month and numerous companies permit no attendance problems at all. This is the reality of today’s work place. Other than excusing for the normal childhood illnesses or a major medical condition, this message of "no more than one attendance problem per month" is the same message that needs to be delivered to all students at school and at home.


Attendance Laws

Compulsory to Age18
E.C. 48200 states: "Each person between the ages of 6 and 18 years of age is subject to compulsory full-time education. Each person … shall attend the public full-time day school or continuation school or classes for the full time designated as the length of the school day by the governing board of the school district in which the residency of either parent or legal guardian is located and each parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of the pupil shall send the pupil to the public full-time day school or continuation school for the full-time designated…"

Truancy

E.C. 48260 states: "Any pupil subject to compulsory full-time education or to compulsory continuation education who is absent from school without a valid excuse three full days in one school year or tardy or absent for more than any 30-minute period during the school day without a valid excuse on three occasions in one school year, or any combination thereof, is a truant…"

Habitual Truant

E.C. 48262 States: "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 …"


SARB
O.U.S.D.’s School Attendance Review Board

E.C. 48263 states: If any minor pupil in any district of a county is an habitual truant, or is irregular in attendance at school, …, or is habitually insubordinate or disorderly during attendance at school, the pupil may be referred to a school attendance review board…"

The "School Attendance Review Board" serving our district’s students is comprised of the district’s attendance supervisor, health services, Orange County Services Representatives, Orange Police Department, Orange County Youth and Family Services, Keeping Kids in School Program, District Psychologist, CWA representative and other community resources as specified in E.C. 48321.

The Orange Unified School District SARB panel holds weekly meetings to address student attendance and discipline  issues.

It is hoped that both the families and "SARB" have a common goal of improving attendance and the student’s performance at school. Unfortunately, there are families that do not comply with the law and do not value their son/daughter’s educational opportunity.

In those cases, E. C. 48291 states: "… In the event that any such parent, guardian, or other person continually and willfully fails to respond to directives of the school attendance review board or services provided, the school attendance review board shall direct the school district to make and file in the proper court a criminal complaint against the parent, guardian, or other person, charging the violation, and shall see that the charge is prosecuted by the proper authority…." As a child advocate, it is very difficult to understand why any responsible parent or guardian would need to be prosecuted in order to improve a child’s education.