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| [ House Amendment 003 ] |
90_HB0053eng
105 ILCS 5/34-18.19 new
Amends the School Code. Adds provisions applicable in
Chicago that supplement and operate independently of
existing truancy laws. Requires the principal of each
attendance center to create a 5 member Truancy Board from
representatives of local police, community service
organizations, staff of the attendance center, parents, and
students (in secondary attendance centers). Provides for
referral by the principal to the Truancy Board of the cases
of students who have 10 days of unexcused absences and whose
parents have been given notice of the truancy. Provides for
a hearing and the imposition of a community service order
with respect to a parent or guardian who knowingly allows a
student to be absent from school without a valid excuse.
Adds provisions relative to judicial review and enforcement
of a community service order of the Truancy Board.
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1 AN ACT concerning chronic truants in the Chicago Public
2 Schools, amending named Acts.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section
6 34-4.5 as follows:
7 (105 ILCS 5/34-4.5 new)
8 Sec. 34-4.5. Chronic truants.
9 (a) Office of Chronic Truant Adjudication. The board
10 shall establish and implement an Office of Chronic Truant
11 Adjudication, which shall be responsible for administratively
12 adjudicating cases of chronic truancy and imposing
13 appropriate sanctions. The board shall appoint or employ
14 hearing officers to perform the adjudicatory functions of
15 that Office. Principals and other appropriate personnel may
16 refer pupils suspected of being chronic truants, as defined
17 in Section 26-2a of this Code, to the Office of Chronic
18 Truant Adjudication.
19 (b) Notices. Before any hearing may be held under
20 subsection (c), the principal of the school attended by the
21 pupil or the principal's designee shall notify the pupil's
22 parent or guardian by personal visit, letter, or telephone of
23 each unexcused absence of the pupil. After giving the parent
24 or guardian notice of the tenth unexcused absence of the
25 pupil, the principal or the principal's designee shall send
26 the pupil's parent or guardian a letter, by certified mail,
27 return receipt requested, notifying the parent or guardian
28 that he or she is subjecting himself or herself to a hearing
29 procedure as provided under subsection (c) and clearly
30 describing any and all possible penalties that may be imposed
31 as provided for in subsections (d) and (e) of this Section.
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1 (c) Hearing. Once a pupil has been referred to the
2 Office of Chronic Truant Adjudication, a hearing shall be
3 scheduled before an appointed hearing officer, and the pupil
4 and the pupil's parents or guardian shall be notified by
5 certified mail, return receipt requested stating the time,
6 place, and purpose of the hearing. The hearing officer shall
7 hold a hearing and render a written decision within 14 days
8 determining whether the pupil is a chronic truant as defined
9 in Section 26-2a of this Code and whether the parent or
10 guardian took reasonable steps to assure the pupil's
11 attendance at school. The hearing shall be private unless a
12 public hearing is requested by the pupil's parent or
13 guardian, and the pupil may be present at the hearing with a
14 representative in addition to the pupil's parent or guardian.
15 The board shall present evidence of the pupil's truancy, and
16 the pupil and the parent or guardian or representative of the
17 pupil may cross examine witnesses, present witnesses and
18 evidence, and present defenses to the charges. All testimony
19 at the hearing shall be taken under oath administered by the
20 hearing officer. The decision of the hearing officer shall
21 constitute an "administrative decision" for purposes of
22 judicial review under the Administrative Review Law.
23 (d) Penalties. The hearing officer may require the
24 pupil or the pupil's parent or guardian or both the pupil and
25 the pupil's parent or guardian to do any or all of the
26 following: perform reasonable school or community services
27 for a period not to exceed 30 days; complete a parenting
28 education program; obtain counseling or other supportive
29 services; and comply with an individualized educational plan
30 or service plan as provided by appropriate school officials.
31 If the parent or guardian of the chronic truant shows that he
32 or she took reasonable steps to insure attendance of the
33 pupil at school, he or she shall not be required to perform
34 services.
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1 (e) Non-compliance with sanctions. If a pupil
2 determined by a hearing officer to be a chronic truant or the
3 parent or guardian of the pupil fails to comply with the
4 sanctions ordered by the hearing officer under subsection (c)
5 of this Section, the Office of Chronic Truant Adjudication
6 may refer the matter to the State's Attorney for prosecution
7 under Section 3-33 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987.
8 (f) Limitation on applicability. Nothing in this
9 Section shall be construed to apply to a parent or guardian
10 of a pupil in a valid home school program.
11 Section 10. The Juvenile Court Act of 1987 is amended by
12 changing Section 3-33 as follows:
13 (705 ILCS 405/3-33) (from Ch. 37, par. 803-33)
14 Sec. 3-33. Truant Minor in Need of Supervision.
15 (a) Definition. Any minor who is reported by a regional
16 superintendent of schools, or in cities of over 500,000
17 inhabitants, by the Office of Chronic Truant Adjudication in
18 a county of less than 2,000,000 inhabitants, as a chronic
19 truant (i) to whom prevention, diagnostic, intervention and
20 remedial services and alternative programs and other school
21 and community resources have been provided and have failed to
22 result in the cessation of chronic truancy, or (ii) to whom
23 such services, programs and resources have been offered and
24 have been refused, shall be adjudged a truant minor in need
25 of supervision.
26 (b) Kinds of dispositional orders. A minor found to be
27 a truant minor in need of supervision may be:
28 (1) committed to the appropriate regional
29 superintendent of schools for a multi-disciplinary case
30 staffing, individualized educational plan or service plan, or
31 referral to comprehensive community-based youth services;
32 (2) required to comply with an individualized
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1 educational plan or service plan as specifically provided by
2 the appropriate regional superintendent of schools;
3 (3) ordered to obtain counseling or other supportive
4 services;
5 (4) subject to a fine in an amount in excess of $5, but
6 not exceeding $100, and each day of absence without valid
7 cause as defined in Section 26-2a of The School Code is a
8 separate offense;
9 (5) required to perform some reasonable public service
10 work such as, but not limited to, the picking up of litter in
11 public parks or along public highways or the maintenance of
12 public facilities; or
13 (6) subject to having his or her driver's license or
14 privilege suspended.
15 (Source: P.A. 85-1235.)
16 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
17 becoming law.