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The Pupil Services Department provides
courteous and supportive assistance to students, parents, and school personnel
that promote student achievement and facilitate personal growth.
Assistance is available in the areas of attendance, social work, family
literacy, homeless education and service-learning.
ATTENDANCE LAWS State law requires all children between the ages of five (5) and seventeen (17) to attend a public or private school or kindergarten. A parent whose child or ward is not six years old on or before September 1st of the school year may waive kindergarten attendance for his/her child. Students will return to school on August 17, 2009. Please encourage your children to strive for excellence in school attendance for the new year. South Carolina law requires regular school attendance for every child who is at least five years old on or before the first day of September, until the child turns seventeen years old. Parents who neglect to enroll their child or refuse to make their child attend school, upon conviction, may be fined up to fifty dollars or imprisoned for up to thirty days for each absence. Lawful absences include but are not limited to:
Unlawful absences include but are not limited to:
Suspensions are not to be counted as an unlawful absence for truancy purposes. South Carolina School Attendance Laws Section 59-65-10 All parents or guardians shall cause their children or wards to regularly attend a public or private kindergarten or school of this state which has been approved by the State Board of Education or by a member school of the South Carolina Independent Home Schools Association or some similar organization, or a parochial, denominational or church related school, or other programs which have been approved by the State Board of Education from the school year in which the child or ward is five years of age on or before September first until the child or ward attains his seventeenth birthday or graduates from high school. Section 59-65-20 Any parent or guardian who neglects to enroll his child or ward or refuses to make such a child or ward attend school shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than fifty dollars or be imprisoned not more than thirty days; each day’s absence shall constitute a separate offense; provided, the court may in its discretion suspend the sentence of anyone convicted of the provisions of this act. Section 59-65-90 The State Board of Education shall establish regulations defining lawful and unlawful absences beyond those specifically name in this article and additional regulations as are necessary for the orderly enrollment of pupils so as to provide for uniform dates of entrance. These regulations shall require: (1) that school officials shall immediately intervene encouraging the student’s future attendance when the student has three consecutive unlawful absences or a total of five unlawful absences and (2) that the district board of trustees or its designee shall promptly approve or disapprove any student absence in excess of ten days. As used in this section, “intervene” means to identify the reasons for the child’s continued absence and to develop a plan in conjunction with the student and his parent or guardian to improve his future attendance. Provided, however, that nothing within this section shall interfere with the board’s authority to at any time refer a child to a truancy prevention program or to the court pursuant to 59-65-50. TRUANCY The State Board of Education recognizes that truancy is primarily an educational issue and that all reasonable, educationally sound, corrective actions should be undertaken by the school district prior to resorting to the juvenile justice system.
Homeless Education In December of 2001, Congress made stronger a law giving children and youth in homeless situation the right to go to school, no matter where they live. The law is called the McKinney-Vento Act, and it gives children and youth in homeless situation the right to:
The McKinney-Vento Act is a federal law, passed in 1987 to help people experiencing homelessness. Part of the law protects the rights of children and youth who are homeless to go to school. The law says that a child or youth without a fixed, regular and adequate residence is homeless. It does not matter how long the child or youth has been without a home. It also does not matter if the child or youth is living with a parent or is separated from parents. Under the Act, students are homeless if they are:
Migrant children, pre-school children, and youth on their own are covered if they fit into one of these categories. Runaway youth can be considered homeless even if their families want them to come home. Students who live in any public or private place that is not supposed to be a regular residence is covered. For more information or questions concerning homelessness, please contact the district’s Homeless Liaison, Rosemary P. Choice at (803) 625-5255. FAMILY LITERACY PROGRAM Purpose The Early Childhood Development and Academic Assistance Act (Act 135) requires that funds generated be used to provide family literacy programs with the overall purpose of supporting parents/guardians of children ages 0-5 years in their role as the principal teachers of their preschool children. Programs must be designed to serve children, parents (or guardians), and parents and children together as a family unit. School districts must provide comprehensive family literacy programs that address intergenerational cycles of poverty through adult education, early childhood and parenting education. Goal
The goal of family literacy is to help
break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by improving the educational
opportunities of the state’s low-income families by integrating early childhood
education, adult literacy or adult basic education, and parenting education
into a unified family literacy program. SOCIAL WORK Social work services are provided to assist students and families who are experiencing problems that interfere with academic achievement.
Rosemary P. Choice
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TRIBUNAL OFFICER What Is The Tribunal Officer? The Tribunal Officer ensures that students grades K-12 are given due process of law before receiving an expulsion sanction for violating a major school/district policy. Functions of the Tribunal Office
For more information contact our
district’s Tribunal Officer, Pupil Services Contact Info
Rosemary P. Choice Pupil Services Coordinator (803) 625-5255 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Syneke DeVore Secretary (803) 625-5256 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Carolyn Borum Parent Educator (803) 625-5254 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Doris Smith Parent Educator (803) 625-5254 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |


