Referring Cases to Court Child Welfare & attendance

California Law Allows School Districts to File Charges Against Parents for Violation of: 1. Ed Code 48293 – Failure to Comply with SARB Directives 2. Penal Code 270.1 – Student’s Missing More than Ten Percent of the School Year – (Students in grades K-8 Only) 3. Penal Code 272 – Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor

California Law Allows School Districts to File Charges Against STUDENTS under: Vehicle Code 13202.7 – 13202.7. (a) Any minor under the age of 18 years, but 13 years of age or older, who is an habitual truant … may have his or her driving privilege suspended for one year by the court. If the minor does not yet have the privilege to drive, the court may order the department to delay issuing the privilege to drive for one year subsequent to the time the person becomes legally eligible to drive. 

California Education Code 48913 * reminder: creating a case and making a referral to your local district attorney does not ensure that charge will be filed. Once we submit our case to the DA, they decide if the case is valid and includes enough evidence for charges to be filed.

6 Simple Steps! Create your court packet in.... The Attorney handling your case doesn’t know your student or their parents… Determine the criteria your School, District, or County Office of Ed will use to refer cases to court. Contact the parents by phone, letter or personal visit, to inform them that their case is now being referred to the local DA for possible prosecution. Create your court packet in.... 85% Attendance or Less Parents Uncooperative Academics Significantly Affected Parents Have Been Given a Minimum of 30 Days AFTER the SARB Hearing to Correct the Attendance Problems. 6 Simple Steps! * If parents respond, let them know you will be in court the day they are ordered to appear and will speak to the judge on their behalf if progress has been made since the referral was submitted.

Creating the court packet: STEP ONE: Print and/or Collect the Documents You Will Need SARB CONTRACT FACE SHEET from Aeries, Power School or whatever program your District uses Student’s ATTENDANCE for current and prior school year if applicable (Include notes) Student’s DISCIPLINE page or file Student’s GRADES or Transcript List of INTERVENTIONS attempted, LETTERS mailed and CONTACTS made Copy of LETTER TO PARENT(S) notifying them the case is being referred to court (or documentation of conference or phone call that was made instead of a letter) Creating the court packet:

Creating the court packet: STEP TWO: Write the Summary Statement for Case *This is perhaps the most important part of the case because it is usually the only part the judge will read. Summary statement (1-3 short paragraphs) needs to include: Student’s Initials, School, Grade & Age Date of Student’s SARB Hearing Number of days the student has been enrolled for the current school year and number of days absent and/or tardy. How the student is doing academically Number of contacts or interventions the school or district has made in an attempt to correct the attendance problem Any other pertinent information Creating the court packet:

Sample Summary Paragraph Student MA is a 5th grade male, enrolled at Meadow Brook Elementary School. MA has been enrolled for the 2015/2016 school year for 151 days and has had 23 absences (12 of those absences were AFTER the SARB Hearing) and the student is currently missing more than 85% of the school year. MA has also had 12 tardies to school since the SARB Hearing and (7) seven of those tardies were in excess of 30 minutes. MA’s academics are beginning to decline significantly and he is currently testing far below grade level. Parents have received 15 home visits, phone calls, letters or personal conferences in the last two year; in an attempt to address MA’s attendance concerns, but attendance problems continue. MA’s SARB Hearing was held on November 5, 2015. MA’s parents failed to appear for this meeting and a copy of the SARB contract along with a letter explaining California Attendance laws and expectations, and requesting parent/guardian call with any questions, was mailed along with the SARB contract.

re-used for each new case. Insert the personalized summary into a saved “Summary Document” that can be re-used for each new case.

Creating the court packet: STEP THREE: Complete DA Cover Sheet Enter the code for the Charges you are requesting the DA use to file the charges. EC 48293, PC 272 or PC 270.1 Enter each Defendants (Parent) name an all identifying information you have. (Cross of 3. MUST include Date of Birth for each defendant. 4. Enter your districts individual case number. Example: 15/16-016 5. Enter Name and Title of person who will appear in court. 6. Enter Date of Offense – VERY important. This date should be the date of the SARB hearing until the current date. Example: November 5, 2016 to April 26, 2016

EXAMPLE OF COURT COVER SHEET

Creating the court packet: STEP FOUR: Redaction of Minor Personal Information Form can be found at www.jumpstartattendacne.org. Enter the name(s) and birthdate(s) of the adult defendant(s) (Parent(s) or Guardian(s) Enter the name(s) and birthdates of the minor Child/Children Make a copy of the entire court packet (so the original documents remain unaltered) and THEN redact ALL confidential information on the COPY. (After redacting all confidential information from the COPY, copies of this COPY will be the packets that are sent to the District Attorney’s Office)

EXAMPLE OF REDACTION FORM

Creating the court packet: STEP FIVE: Compile, Copy and Submit The court document should be compiled in the following order: Top – Redaction Form, DA Cover Sheet Body – Summary Page, Parent Letter, SARB Contract, Student Cover Sheet, Attendance, Grades, List of Contacts and Interventions End - Any other pertinent documents Combine in the order above and make one copy for each defendant (parent) listed on the case. Keep the original (redacted) so you will have a copy of exactly what the courts have. (Student’s court file will include the originals and a stapled copy of redacted doc.) Creating the court packet:

California Ed. Code 48293 Violations AFTER CASE SUBMISSION Violation of CA Ed Code 48293 – Failed to comply with SARB Directives If the case is filed you will receive a notice from the DA’s Office giving the Defendant’s Arraignment Date and Time. Calendar the Arraignment Date and prepare to be present in court at the date and time scheduled. If the case is rejected, you will receive a notice from the Deputy DA who rejected it with a reason why. (DON’T GIVE UP!) Correct whatever is wrong and resubmit the case. California Ed. Code 48293 Violations ONLY

AFTER CASE SUBMISSION PENAL CODE 270.1 & PENAL CODE 272 CHARGES If a school district files charges that the parent(s) have violated Penal Code 270.1 (minor child is missing more than ten percent of the school year) or Penal Code 272 (contributing to the delinquency of a minor), the DA’s office will appoint a Deputy DA to handle the case and school district personnel will not be contacted unless they need further information or unless the case goes to trial and they need personnel to testify. In these cases, the defendant will be given a public defender or may hire an attorney of their choosing. AFTER CASE SUBMISSION PENAL CODE 270.1 & PENAL CODE 272 CHARGES

At the arraignment, the defendants will be told what they are accused of being guilty of and will be asked to enter a plea. Plea options are Guilty, No Contest or Not Guilty. If possible, meet with the defendants prior to entering the courtroom and explain to them what to expect. This helps parents to see that you want to help them through the process. ALWAYS explain that you CANNOT give them legal advice or tell them what to plead but it’s okay to explain what happens with each plea. WHAT TO EXPECT IN COURT

Continued: WHAT TO EXPECT IN COURT Guilty or No Contest pleas are essentially the same. No Contest means the defendant may or may not feel like they are “guilty” but they don’t want to fight the charges. If a defendant enters a Guilty or No Contest plea, the judge typically stays the fines and puts off sentencing to a future date. (The judge generally defers to the school district as to how far out that date should be.)

Continued: If the defendant enters a Not Guilty plea, the judge will set a trial date. At the trial, the School District will present the evidence provided in the court packet as proof that the parent(s) are guilty of the infraction. The defendant will then be responsible for providing evidence that the case the School District presented is incorrect. WHAT TO EXPECT IN COURT

Continued: If the defendant enters a Guilty or No Contest plea and the judge puts off sentencing for a future date, the parent then has the opportunity to correct the attendance problems before the review date. At the court review, the district representative will give a FACTUAL account of the child/children’s progress and may then request that the judge dismiss the case, issue the fine, or set another review date, based on that progress. WHAT TO EXPECT IN COURT

WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER COURT Continued: WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER COURT FTA – FAILED TO APPEAR It’s recommended that you do whatever you can to get your parents into court. If the court issues a Cite Warrant against a parent in your district, you might be able to work with your local Police Department to have officers serve Cite Warrants during their quitter shifts.

WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER COURT Continued: If a parent has been prosecuted, found guilty, and fined for an infraction, the school district may immediately file new charges and it’s important to include information regarding the first conviction. If the parent is found guilty of the second charge, the fine is increased to $250 plus court charges. Fines are increased to $500 (plus court charges) on the third offense and each consecutive offense. WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER COURT

CONTACT INFORMATION Debbie Terry – Tulare City School District dterry@tcsd.k12.ca.us 559-685-7222 Lupe Aguilera – Tulare Joint Union High Schools gaguilera@Tulare.k12.ca.us 559-687-7400 Robert Dempsey – Tulare County District Attorney www.DA-Tulareco.org