18A:38-25.1 "Chronically absent" students, corrective action plan.

2. 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.

L.2018, c.23, s.2.