N.Y. Education Law § 3213: Supervisors of attendance; attendance teachers; attendance officers; appointment, compensation, powers and duties

§ 3213. Supervisors of attendance; attendance teachers; attendance

officers; appointment, compensation, powers and duties. 1. Appointment,

removal, compensation and supervision. a. To the end that children shall

not suffer through unnecessary failure to attend school for any cause

whatsoever, it shall be the duty of each attendance teacher and each

attendance supervisor to secure for every child his right to educational

opportunities which will enable him to develop his fullest

potentialities for education, physical, social and spiritual growth as

an individual and to provide for the school adjustment of any

nonattendant child in cooperation with school authorities, special

school services and community and social agencies.

The school authorities of each city school district, union free school

district, central school district, central high school district, or

common school district whose limits include in whole or in part an

incorporated village, shall appoint and may remove one or more

supervisors of attendance or attendance teachers of such district. A

supervisor of attendance shall be appointed in accordance with the civil

service law and rules, unless he or she is a licensed attendance teacher

or a teacher licensed to teach in New York state, with such further

qualifications as the board of regents shall establish. On and after

July first, nineteen hundred fifty-five no full-time supervisor of

attendance shall be appointed unless he or she holds a license as

attendance teacher. Such supervisors of attendance and those holding

full-time positions who are similarly licensed teachers or who hold

attendance teacher licenses shall be assigned to the step in the salary

schedule of the school district commensurate with the salary being paid

such supervisors or teachers. Such persons shall be paid thereafter in

accordance with such schedule. If the amount of salary received on said

July first, nineteen hundred fifty-five is less than the minimum step of

the salary schedule, such supervisor or teacher shall be paid until June

thirtieth, nineteen hundred fifty-six at the rate of the first step and

in accordance with the schedule thereafter.

No supervisor of attendance or attendance teacher shall be appointed

who is not twenty-one years of age and in proper physical condition.

In the establishment of an eligible list advanced education related to

attendance service shall be taken into consideration in the grading of

the candidates. Experience in teaching, in social service and welfare

work, and in business or in the professional field shall likewise be

taken into consideration.

Paragraph a of subdivision one of this section shall apply to a city

in which attendance supervisors are appointed from an eligible list now

prepared by a board of examiners.

Supervisors of attendance in a city having a board of examiners shall

be licensed as attendance teachers only when they comply with the

regulations for such license as established by the commissioner of

education and any additional requirements which may be established by

the board of examiners.

The board of education shall fix the compensation of part-time

supervisors of attendance and prescribe their duties not inconsistent

with part one of this article and make rules and regulations for the

performance thereof. The superintendent of schools or district

superintendent of schools shall supervise the enforcement of part one of

this article within such city or school district.

b. The town board of each town, with the approval, in writing, of the

district superintendent, shall appoint, on or before August first of

each year, one or more attendance officers and shall fix their

compensation. During the school year it shall also fill promptly any

vacancy after notification thereof by the district superintendent. The

district superintendent shall promptly notify the town board of his

approval or disapproval of an appointment. If within one month a town

board shall not comply with the foregoing provisions, the district

superintendent, subject to appeal to the commissioner of education,

shall exercise the powers and duties of the town board with respect

thereto. An attendance officer appointed for a town shall have

jurisdiction over all school districts of the town which are not

otherwise provided for by this section. He shall be removable at the

pleasure of the district superintendent. His compensation and his

necessary expenses in attending conferences called by the district

superintendent shall be a town charge.

c. In case a school district shall include territory lying within the

boundaries of more than one town, the attendance officer appointed by

the town in which the schoolhouse is located shall have jurisdiction

over the entire school district.

2. Powers and duties. a. Arrest of truants. A supervisor of

attendance, attendance teacher or attendance officer, as the case may

be, may arrest without warrant any minor who is unlawfully absent from

attendance upon instruction. He shall forthwith place the minor so

arrested in attendance upon required instruction and shall notify the

parent or guardian of the minor, and he may then begin proceedings for

his commitment as a school delinquent or arraign him before a court

having jurisdiction. Where a minor resides in one school district and

attends school in another school district, the supervisor of attendance,

attendance teacher or attendance officer of the district where the minor

resides and the supervisor of attendance, attendance teacher or

attendance officer of the district where said minor attends school shall

have concurrent jurisdiction with reference to said minor and to the

person or persons in parental relation to him.

b. Right of entry.

(1) A supervisor of attendance, attendance teacher or attendance

officer, as the case may be, in the performance of his duties, may enter

during business hours any factory, mercantile or other establishment, or

other place in which a minor is believed to be employed within the city

or school district in which he is appointed, and shall be entitled to

examine on demand the employment certificates or work permits of minors

therein employed, for whose lawful employment such certificates or

permits are required by the provisions of part one of this article.

(2) He may also enter any public place during the hours in which the

public have access thereto, to ascertain if any minor is therein who is

required to attend upon instruction by the provisions of part one of

this article, or engaged in a street trade contrary to the provisions of

part one of this article, or to collect information required for the

school census.

c. Notification upon absence. It shall be the duty of every school

district to inform persons in parental relation to elementary school

pupils of such person's right to be notified when such pupil is deemed

absent from attendance at his designated school. Persons in parental

relation to elementary school pupils shall, if such notification is

desired, forward a request in writing to the principal of the pupil's

designated school. Such request shall contain the telephone number of

person or persons in parental relation to the pupil or other information

to facilitate communication with such persons by the most expedient

means available. No civil or criminal liability shall arise or attach to

any school district or employee thereof for any act or omission to act

as a result of, or in connection with, the duties or activities

authorized or directed by this paragraph.

d. Notification when deemed absent. A supervisor of attendance,

attendance teacher, attendance officer, or other person authorized by

the school district, as the case may be, shall, where a request for

notification has been made pursuant to paragraph c of this subdivision,

notify a person in parental relation to any elementary school pupil by

the means designated in such request when such pupil is deemed absent

from required attendance at his designated school without prior

notification and consent to such absence by the person in parental

relation. No civil or criminal liability shall arise or attach to any

school district or employee thereof for any act or omission to act as a

result of, or in connection with, the duties or activities authorized or

directed by this paragraph.

e. To the extent that supervisors of attendance, attendance teachers

and attendance officers act pursuant to this subdivision and subdivision

one of this section for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of

part one of this article, they shall be deemed to have acted within the

scope of their employment. Such personnel shall continue to have all the

powers, duties and responsibilities conferred on them by law prior to

the date on which the provisions of this paragraph become effective.