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Truancy Ordinance "A"
Section 1. Declaration
The Logan County Board declares
that when school is in session, with limited exceptions, school-aged
children should be in school. To promote school attendance, we
hereby make it unlawful;
(a) for a school-aged child age ten
(10) or older to be truant, and
(b) for whoever has custody or
control of a school-aged child under age ten (10) to allow such
child to be truant.
Section 2. Definitions
The following words, terms and
phrases when used in this article, shall have the meaning ascribed
to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates
a different meaning:
(a) "School-aged child" means a
person who is between the ages of seven (7) and seventeen (l7).
(b) "Truant" means a school-aged
child subject to compulsory school attendance and who is absent from
such attendance for a school day or portion thereof.
(c) "Valid cause" for absence shall
be illness, observance of a religious holiday, death in the
immediate family, family emergency, and shall include such other
situations beyond the control of the student as determined by the
board of education in each district, or such other circumstances
which cause reasonable concern to the parent for the safety or
health of the student.
Section 3. Prohibition
(a) Outside of the corporate
boundaries of any incorporated city, village or town in this county,
it is unlawful for a school-aged child age ten (10) or older to be
truant.
(b) Outside of the corporate
boundaries of any incorporated city, village or town in this county,
it is unlawful for the parent or legal guardian of a school-aged
child under age ten (10) to allow the child to be truant.
Section 4. Defense
It shall be a defense to a
violation of this ordinance that the child is not attending school
because he or she has a valid cause as defined in §2 when the
child's parent or legal guardian had informed an appropriate school
official that the child will be absent prior to time the child was
discovered to be truant by the school truancy officer or other
appropriate school official.
Section 5. Exemptions
The following school-aged children
shall be exempt from the truancy prohibition.
(a) Any school-aged child attending
a school-sanctioned event away from school grounds with the school's
permission.
(b) Any child over 12 and under 14
years of age while in attendance at confirmation classes.
(c) Any child attending a private
or a parochial school where children are taught the branches of
education taught to children of corresponding age and grade in the
public schools, and where the instruction of the child in the
branches of education is in the English language.
(d) Any child necessarily and
lawfully employed according to the provisions of the law regulating
child labor may be excused from attendance at school by the Regional
Superintendent of Schools or the superintendent of the public school
which the child should be attending, on certification of the facts
by and the recommendation of the school board of the public school
district in which the child resides.
(e) Any school-aged child who is
excused for the lunch period pursuant to the rules of the school in
which the child is enrolled.
(f) Any child who is physically or
mentally unable to attend school, such disability being certified to
the county or district truant officer by a competent physician
licensed in Illinois to practice medicine and surgery in all its
branches, an advanced practice nurse who has a written collaborative
agreement with a collaborating physician that authorizes the
advanced practice nurse to perform health examinations, a physician
assistant who has been delegated the authority to perform health
examinations by his or her supervising physician, or a Christian
Science practitioner residing in this State and listed in the
Christian Science Journal; or who is excused for temporary absence
for cause by the principal or teacher of the school which the child
attends; the exemptions in this paragraph (f) do not apply to any
female who is pregnant or the mother of one or more children, except
where a female is unable to attend school due to a complication
arising from her pregnancy and the existence of such complication is
certified to the county or district truant officer by a competent
physician.
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(g) Any child absent from a public
school on a particular day or days or at a particular time of day
for the reason that he is unable to attend classes or to participate
in any examination, study or work requirements on a particular day
or days or at a particular time of day, because the tenets of his
religion forbid secular activity on a particular day or days or at a
particular time of day. Each school board shall prescribe rules and
regulations relative to absences for religious holidays including,
but not limited to, a list of religious holidays on which it shall
be mandatory to excuse a child; but nothing in this paragraph 5
shall be construed to limit the right of any school board, at its
discretion, to excuse an absence on any other day by reason of the
observance of a religious holiday. A school board may require the
parent or guardian of a child who is to be excused from attending
school due to the observance of a religious holiday to give notice,
not exceeding 5 days, of the child's absence to the school principal
or other school personnel. Any child excused from attending school
under this paragraph 5 shall not be required to submit a written
excuse for such absence after returning to school.
(h) Any child 16 years of age or
older who (i) submits to a school district evidence of necessary and
lawful employment pursuant to paragraph 3 of this Section and (ii)
is enrolled in a graduation incentives program pursuant to Section
26-16 of the Illinois School Code or an alternative learning
opportunities program established pursuant to Article 13B of the
Illinois School Code.
Section 6. Enforcement
The following persons are
authorized to enforce and to issue citations for violations of this
ordinance:
(a) Truancy case workers from the
Logan-Mason-Menard Regional Office of Education #38.
(b) Administrative and truancy
staff from Lincoln Community High School who have been authorized by
the Superintendent of District 404 to issue citations for violations
of this ordinance.
Section 7. Penalty
Any person convicted of a violation
of subsection (a) or (b) of section 75 of this ordinance shall be
punished by a fine of not more than $50.00 for the first offense,
$75.00 for the second offense, and $100.00 for the third and
subsequent offenses.
Section 8. Processing
(a) Citations shall be filed with
the Logan County Clerk of the Circuit Court to be processed as the
Circuit Court deems fit.
(b) The Logan County State's
Attorney is authorized to prosecute violations as he or she deems
fit.
This Ordinance shall be effective
immediately upon adoption by the Logan County Board in open session
by roll call vote this 17th day of July 2007.
AYES 11
NAYS___
PRESENT ___
ABSENT 1
Richard E. Logan
Chairman of Logan County Board
(SEAL)
Sally J. Litterly
Logan County Clerk
[Text copied from file received] |
