A county SARB may be established in each county and that county SARB may accept referrals for hearing services from school districts within its jurisdiction. A county SARB may be operated through a consortium of a county with one or more school districts or between two or more counties. (California Education Code [EC] Section 48321[A][1]
).
A school district (or districts) planning to form a local SARB, if a county SARB exists, must contact their current county SARB chairperson to request permission, since the county SARB establishes the number of SARBs in the county (EC Section 48321[d]
). The letter of request should include the name of the local district or consortium, the geographic area covered, the needs identified, the names of representatives available to serve, and the signature(s) of the local superintendent(s). After the county SARB chairperson or county consultant has reviewed the letter, the chairperson schedules a meeting with the superintendent(s) or designee(s) to discuss the needed steps to form the local SARB. The chairperson will submit the written request to the county SARB for discussion. If the request is approved, local SARB organizers may complete their plans to form the SARB.
If the school district is in a county without a county SARB, the school district’s governing board may establish a SARB that operates in the same manner as a county SARB and holds the same authority as a county SARB (EC Section 48321[e]
).
Nomination or Appointment of School Attendance Review Board Representatives
Recommended Criteria for Selecting School Attendance Review Board Representatives
Organizational Requirements
Rules and Regulations
Referral to the Local School Attendance Review Board
Preparation for Conference
Elements of Effective School Attendance Review Board Conferences
The Role of the Chairperson
Appropriate Conference Techniques
School Attendance Review Board Agreement or Directives
Referral to Alternative Educational Placement
Open Meetings and Confidentiality: The Brown Act
Minutes from School Attendance Review Board Meetings
Juvenile Court Hearings
Meeting Notes Written by School Attendance Review Board Members
Electronic Recordings
Progress Report
Request for Legal Action
Annual Report
Nomination or Appointment of School Attendance Review Board Representatives
EC Section 48321
states that a County SARB shall and a local SARB may include, but need not be limited to, all of the following:
- Parent
- Representative of school district(s)
- Representative from the county probation department
- Representative from the county social services department
- Representative from the county superintendent of schools office
- Representative from law enforcement
- Representative from community-based youth service centers
- Representative from school guidance personnel
- Representative from child welfare and attendance
- Representative from school or county health care personnel
- Representative from a school, county, or community mental health program
- Representative from the county district attorney’s office
- Representative from the county public defender’s office
- Other representatives as needed
Recommended Criteria for Selecting School Attendance Review Representatives
Dedicated volunteer SARB members are critical to a SARB’s success. When forming a local SARB or recruiting new members, SARBs should select persons possessing the following qualities:
- Leadership ability
- Availability to attend meetings on a regular or as-needed basis
- Experience in dealing with problems associated with delinquency prevention and/or rehabilitation
- Knowledge of and experience with youth-serving public and private agencies
- An understanding of the prevention and diversion philosophy in the juvenile justice system
- An understanding of and respect for individual and group differences, individual and family rights and privacy, and appropriate confidentiality practices
- Ability to communicate and collaborate effectively
Organizational Requirements
If a county SARB exists, the county superintendent of schools shall convene a meeting of the county SARB to adopt plans to promote interagency and community cooperation and to reduce the duplication of services provided to youth with attendance and behavior problems. (EC Section 48321[a][5][A]
). A county SARB may also provide guidance to local SARBs. (EC Section 48321[f]
).
Effective SARBs establish policies and procedures that clarify their purposes and promote the efficient conduct of business. When counties or districts organize a SARB, they must meet basic organizational requirements if they are to be effective. These requirements include the need to:
- Select a chairperson and arrange for clerical help.
- Establish a tenure of membership to provide for continuity and include new perspectives.
- Establish a meeting schedule that identifies when, where, and how often the SARB will meet.
- Consider the location of SARB meetings for the convenience of all representatives, parents, and students.
- Determine which records are required for the local SARB and develop a system for recordkeeping and storage. The SARB must maintain records in a manner that guarantees confidentiality and accessibility.
- Maintain records that track SARB referrals by type, grade level, gender, age, race/ethnic identification, and disposition of the case. (EC Section 48273
)
- Set annual measurable outcomes for improvement (e.g., one percent district-wide attendance improvement per year), both overall and for identifiable subpopulations.
- Identify and maintain a continuing inventory of community resources for student and family referrals and use. The resources should include alternative educational programs.
- Recommend appropriate modification of resources or programs as necessary.
- Create new resources where gaps exist.
- Provide for continuing evaluation of the effectiveness and appropriateness of services from community agencies.
Rules and Regulations
Local SARBs are governed by rules and regulations consistent with the rules and regulations formulated by the county SARB or by other legal requirements (EC Section 48324
). In the absence of a county SARB, the local SARB has the same authority as a county SARB for setting rules and regulations.
Referral to the Local School Attendance Review Board
School staff can often work on solutions with the family in a Student Success Team meeting. If this approach has not proved to be successful, the staff may need to refer the student to SARB. After the referral is made, a designated SARB member reviews the case to determine whether the school has included sufficient documentation on the student’s attendance or behavior strengths and concerns. School personnel attend a screening meeting with a designated SARB member or child welfare and attendance supervisor to determine if all SARB referral criteria have been met. If the SARB member considers the documentation and verification actions incomplete, they will remand the case to the school for further work. If the referral is complete, the SARB member will determine the need for special assistance from community or school personnel and identify a date and location for the meeting.
Before the meeting, the SARB chairperson completes all required forms and notifies the parent or guardian in writing that a SARB referral has been made. The letter identifies the reasons for the referral, explains the SARB process, states that information from the student’s records will be released to the SARB, and invites the parent or guardian to participate in a conference. The chairperson also sends a copy of the letter to the appropriate personnel in the school district.
Preparation for Conference
Before a local or county SARB meets with a student, parent(s) or caregiver(s), the chairperson has several tasks and responsibilities to complete. It is the role of the chairperson to do the following:
- Confirm the date, time, and place with the parent(s)/guardian(s), caregiver(s), and student. Determine whether the family will need transportation or childcare and give the family a telephone number to call in case of illness or emergency.
- Review documentation for its appropriateness to the meeting.
- Designate one SARB member to meet the parent(s)/guardian(s) and student outside the conference room and bring them in at the appropriate time.
- Verify that a quorum of SARB members will be present.
- Start the conference on time and conclude it on time.
- Ensure that the physical setting for the hearing reflects the importance of the meeting.
- Confirm that all the materials needed are available: nameplates for SARB members, case records, paper and pens for taking notes, and a box of tissues.
- Provide simple refreshments, and resource and reference materials (e.g., EC
, the California Welfare and Institutions Code [WIC]
, and attendance bulletins).
Elements of Effective School Attendance Review Board Conferences
Conducting a successful, productive conference requires skill, planning, and work. The chairperson sets the tone for the conference, which should be conducted with a level of formality that lies between an informal counseling session and a formal juvenile court hearing. SARB members must remember the purpose of the conference is to help, not punish, the student.
The Role of the Chairperson
The chairperson has a pivotal role in the SARB meeting. Their opening remarks are very important in setting a positive tone for the conference. They establish the goal of the conference and identify the procedures for the conference. Participants must understand the emphasis on shared decision-making that makes SARB an effective tool. After the conference ends, the chairperson is responsible for making the necessary notations about the proceedings and forwarding the necessary information to the appropriate resource personnel.
Appropriate Conference Techniques
When a SARB conference is being conducted, the attitude of the members can have a major impact on the outcome. A formal, yet friendly demeanor seems to set the best tone. State SARB suggests the following techniques to facilitate the meeting:
- Use a consistent procedure when conducting meetings.
- Give concrete suggestions and provide specific resource listings for the parent and student.
- Give the parent(s)/guardian(s) a copy of the contract with written directives and detailed resource referrals.
- Take notice of the reactions of the parent(s)/guardian(s) and student.
- Give the student and parent(s)/guardian(s) an opportunity to discuss the case and indicate their understanding of the problem.
- Emphasize that all SARB members are united in their commitment to support the attempts of the student and parent(s)/guardian(s) to solve the problem.
School Attendance Review Board Agreement or Directives
At the meeting, members will identify the problem, assess contributing factors, discuss the school’s position, and recommend strategies for resolving the problems. The SARB usually formalizes the proposed solutions in a written directive to the student, signed by the student, parent(s)/guardian(s), SARB chairperson, and school district representative. The chairperson clarifies the directive agreements made, which should include an agreement that the student will attend school or improve classroom behavior, a statement of the responsibilities of all persons involved, specific referrals made to community services or agencies, and follow-up dates by which the school must report to the local SARB on the student’s progress in meeting the directive terms. The SARB may require that the student and/or parent or guardian provide satisfactory evidence of participation in available community services. (EC Section 48263[b][1] ) The SARB chairperson should send a letter to the parent or guardian to confirm the content of the agreement.
Referral to Alternative Educational Placement
Students may be assigned to a different educational placement on the basis of action by a SARB. For two types of educational placement, there is specific authority in statute.
EC Section 48662(b)(3)
provides that a student may be assigned to a community day school if he or she has been referred by a SARB.
EC Section 1981
has long provided for similar referral to a county community school.
Open Meetings and Confidentiality: The Brown Act
County and local SARBs are established under the authority of EC Section 48321
. Since members are appointed by county boards of education or district governing boards, they are bodies of a local agency and are subject to the requirements of the
Ralph M. Brown Act
(Brown Act).
Therefore, SARB agendas must be posted 72 hours before the meeting and members can act only on matters included in the agenda. SARBs may hold closed sessions when considering matters relating to individual students unless the parent or guardian requests an open session in writing. Closed sessions need to be part of regular or special meetings for which notices and agendas are required.
Under the Brown Act, agendas must contain a brief general description of each item to be transacted or discussed, including items to be discussed in closed session (California Government Code [GC] Section 54954.2[a][1]
). The agenda should indicate that student referrals will be considered in closed session. Students’ names do not appear on the agenda. One method is to assign a case number for each referral and list the appropriate case numbers on the agenda.
Minutes from School Attendance Review Board Meetings
SARBs should keep minutes of open sessions. The minutes are public record, subject to inspection by any person. The Brown Act does not require that minutes of closed sessions be kept. GC Section 54957.2
provides that a legislative body may keep a “minute book” of topics discussed and decisions made at closed sessions.
Keeping minutes of the closed-session portion of a SARB meeting is an option but is not recommended. If minutes are kept of closed sessions, they should be kept separately from the minutes of open sessions. Parents, whether custodial or not, should not be given access to the minutes of closed sessions. Whether or not names are used is a policy matter for the SARB and would depend on the purpose of the minutes. It is not necessary to summarize a discussion held on a particular matter in the minutes.
However, it is necessary for the minutes to identify the items considered and report the action taken on any item. Minutes from a closed session are confidential and should not be released without a specific court order.
The basis for holding a closed session is primarily EC Section 49076(a)(1)
, which provides that SARBs have access to student records, but are precluded from permitting others access to the information without written consent of the student’s parent or guardian. The possibility of a SARB referring a student to a juvenile court supports the practice of holding closed sessions.
Juvenile Court Hearings
The language of GC Section 54957.2
makes minutes of a closed session confidential and subject only to review by a court to determine whether a Brown Act violation has occurred. Therefore, closed session SARB minutes should not be used in a court hearing. EC Section 48263(a)
provides that when a SARB refers a matter to juvenile court, the SARB shall submit to the juvenile court documentation of efforts to secure attendance as well as its recommendations as to what action the juvenile court shall take in order to bring about a proper disposition of the case. Therefore, the SARB should prepare and compile documentation, apart from the minutes that may be used at a juvenile court hearing.
Meeting Notes Written by School Attendance Review Board Members
Because any notes or information maintained from a meeting could be considered part of the student record, this information could later be subject to subpoena. SARB members need to be aware that parents have an absolute right to access any student record maintained by a school district.
Electronic Recordings
Electronic recordings can be treated as the minutes of a closed session. With regard to open meetings, the Brown Act gives anyone attending such a meeting the right to record it unless the SARB finds that such a recording will persistently disrupt its meeting (GC Section 54953.5
).
Progress Report
The school representative is responsible for submitting follow-up reports to the SARB. These follow-up reports will prepare the SARB for possible next steps: time extension for contract completion; termination of the agreement, or follow-up conferences to determine the need to escalate interventions. If the school determines that the student needs additional time to meet all the conditions of the agreement, it may request that the SARB grant an extension of the agreement. SARBs usually will grant reasonable requests of this kind.
If the school’s reports indicate acceptable improvement, the SARB may terminate the agreement and acknowledge the student’s achievement in a final conference with the student and parent or guardian or in a letter to all concerned persons. However, if there has been inadequate progress, or the agreement has not been maintained by the student, parent, or guardian, the school representative may request that the SARB consider scheduling another conference with the student, parent, or guardian, or may decide to initiate legal action.
Request for Legal Action
The local SARB can take legal action based on its county’s established procedures if the SARB determines the student’s attendance or behavior problems persist after exhausting community resources. Legal action also can result if the student and family do not follow SARB recommendations, the student violates the terms of the SARB contract, or the student or family fails to cooperate with the local SARB. These legal actions can include several options:
- Directing the school district to request that the probation department investigate the matter on behalf of the minor (Copies of the request forms should be sent to the office of the county superintendent of schools.)
- Directing the school district to request the California Department of Social Services file a petition on behalf of the minor (WIC Section 300
)
- Requiring the school district to file a complaint against the parent(s)/guardian(s) for violating EC sections 48291
and 48452
and WIC Section 601.2
Annual Report
Local and county SARBs must summarize their operations during the year in an annual report to their governing board and member organizations. Members can use the report to justify the time their personnel devote to SARB; the data provides a rationale for expanding or modifying SARB activities throughout the county and state.
The report shall include, but is not limited to, the following information:
- Name of chairperson, name of each SARB member, and the organization each member represents
- Types and numbers of referrals (attendance and/or behavior)
- Total number of students referred to the SARB, including the number of students referred by grade level, gender, and race/ethnicity
- Disposition of referrals, including number of cases referred to the local district attorney
The sample Extended SARB Report (XLS) form is consistent with the EC Section 48273
requirements.