N.Y. Educ. Law § 3213

Current through 2024 NY Law Chapter 457

Section 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.

N.Y. Educ. Law § 3213