159.1 50 Definitions of truant and habitual truant -- Attendance record requirements -- Adoption of truancy policies by local school boards -- Implementation of early intervention and prevention programs. (1) Any student who has attained the age of six (6) y ears, but has not reached his or her eighteenth birthday, who has been absent from school without valid excuse for three (3) or more days, or tardy without valid excuse on three (3) or more days, is a truant. (2) Any student enrolled in a public school who has attained the age of eighteen (18) years, but has not reached his or her twenty -first birthday, who has been absent from school without valid excuse for three (3) or more days, or tardy without valid excuse on three (3) or more days, is a truant. (3) Any student who has been reported as a truant two (2) or more times is an habitual truant. (4) For the purposes of establishing a student's status as a truant, the student's attendance record is cumulative for an entire school year. If a student transfers f rom one (1) Kentucky public school to another during a school year, the receiving school shall incorporate the attendance information provided under KRS 159.170 in the year. If a student transfers f rom one (1) Kentucky public school to another during a school year, the receiving school shall incorporate the attendance information provided under KRS 159.170 in the student's official attendance record. (5) A local board of education may adopt reasonabl e policies that: (a) Require students to comply with compulsory attendance laws; (b) Require truants and habitual truants to make up unexcused absences; (c) Impose sanctions for noncompliance; and (d) Collaborate and cooperate with the Court of Justice, th e Department for Community Based Services, the Department of Juvenile Justice, regional community mental health centers, and other service providers to implement and utilize early intervention and prevention programs, such as truancy diversion, truancy boa rds, mediation, and alternative dispute resolution to reduce referrals to a court -designated worker. Effective: July 1, 2015 History: Amended 2014 Ky. Acts ch. 132, sec. 15, effective July 1, 2015. -- Amended 2007 Ky. Acts ch. 122, sec. 1, effective June 2 6, 2007. -- Amended 2005 Ky. Acts ch. 172, sec. 1, effective June 20, 2005. -- Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 611, sec. , effective July 1, 2015. -- Amended 2007 Ky. Acts ch. 122, sec. 1, effective June 2 6, 2007. -- Amended 2005 Ky. Acts ch. 172, sec. 1, effective June 20, 2005. -- Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 611, sec. 2, effective July 15, 1998. -- Repealed and reenacted 1990 Ky. Acts ch. 476, Pt. V, sec. 413, effective July 13, 1990. -- Amended 1982 Ky. Ac ts ch. 33, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1982. -- Recodified 1942 Ky. Acts ch. 208, sec. 1, effective October 1, 1942, from Ky. Stat. sec. 4434 -14.
Kentucky Legal Code