School Attendance Review Board (SARB)

School-Level Interventions

The school must: (1) report the truant pupil to the district’s attendance supervisor, (2) notify the parent or guardian that the pupil is truant, and (3) provide the pupil and parent with certain interventions—such as providing the pupil with counseling and tutoring and requiring the parent to attend a parenting class.

District-Level Interventions

If the school-level interventions are unsuccessful, the school district will refer the student and the parent to the district’s SARB or, if the district does not have a standing SARB, to the county office of education’s (COE) SARB. In either case, the SARB is composed of parents, representatives from the school district, and members of the community at large—including representatives from law enforcement, welfare and mental health agencies, youth services agencies, and the district attorney’s office. The SARB members work collaboratively to diagnose the problem and recommend solutions to overcome the specific circumstances that are contributing to truancy. If parents refuse to respond to SARB directives, the SARB may refer the case to the district attorney for legal interventions. Alternatively, school districts may bypass the district attorney’s office entirely and file against offenders in traffic court.

County and Court Interventions

In addition to a SARB, most COEs operate formal truancy mediation programs in coordination with the district attorney and/or county probation offices. A SARB may refer cases to these programs as a last intervention before the pupil or parent faces legal prosecution. Typically, it is only in the most egregious cases where these efforts are unsuccessful and legal action is subsequently pursued by the district attorney. When legal action is needed, district attorneys have three options they may use to prosecute offenders. As described in Figure 1, the penalties associated with these options vary in severity—ranging from community service or participation in a parent education program to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

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