HB 0417

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to juvenile tours of correctional
3	facilities; amending s. 945.75, F.S.; providing for
4	juveniles to tour state or county correctional facilities
5	upon court order or referral by a school district or child
6	study team; amending s. 1003.26, F.S.; providing for
7	referrals of students with attendance problems to
8	voluntarily tour state or county correctional facilities;
9	providing an effective date.
10
11	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
12
13	Section 1.  Section 945.75, Florida Statutes, is amended to
14	read:
15	945.75  Tours of state correctional facilities for
16	juveniles.--The Department of Corrections shall develop a
17	program under which a judge may order that juveniles who have
18	committed delinquent acts shall be allowed to tour state
19	correctional facilities pursuant to a court order or referral by
20	a district school superintendent or child study team, subject to
21	under the terms and conditions established by the department.
22	Each county shall develop a comparable program to allow
23	juveniles to tour county jails pursuant to a court order or
24	referral by a district school superintendent or child study
25	team.
26	Section 2.  Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section
27	1003.26, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
28	1003.26  Enforcement of school attendance.--The Legislature
29	finds that poor academic performance is associated with
30	nonattendance and that schools must take an active role in
31	enforcing attendance as a means of improving the performance of
32	many students. It is the policy of the state that each district
33	school superintendent be responsible for enforcing school
34	attendance of all students subject to the compulsory school age
35	in the school district. The responsibility includes recommending
36	to the district school board policies and procedures to ensure
37	that schools respond in a timely manner to every unexcused
38	absence, or absence for which the reason is unknown, of students
39	enrolled in the schools. District school board policies must
40	require each parent of a student to justify each absence of the
41	student, and that justification will be evaluated based on
42	adopted district school board policies that define excused and
43	unexcused absences. The policies must provide that schools track
44	excused and unexcused absences and contact the home in the case
45	of an unexcused absence from school, or an absence from school
46	for which the reason is unknown, to prevent the development of
47	patterns of nonattendance. The Legislature finds that early
48	intervention in school attendance matters is the most effective
49	way of producing good attendance habits that will lead to
50	improved student learning and achievement. Each public school
51	shall implement the following steps to enforce regular school
52	attendance:
53	(1)  CONTACT, REFER, AND ENFORCE.--
54	(c)  If an initial meeting does not resolve the problem,
55	the child study team shall implement interventions that best
56	address the problem. The interventions may include, but need not
57	be limited to:
58	1.  Frequent communication between the teacher and the
59	family;
60	2.  Changes in the learning environment;
61	3.  Mentoring;
62	4.  Student counseling;
63	5.  Tutoring, including peer tutoring;
64	6.  Placement into different classes;
65	7.  Evaluation for alternative education programs;
66	8.  Attendance contracts;
67	9.  Referral to other agencies for family services; or
68	10.  Referral to voluntarily participate in a youth
69	awareness tour of a state or county correctional facility
70	pursuant to s. 945.75; or
71	11.10.  Other interventions, including, but not limited to,
72	a truancy petition under pursuant to s. 984.151.
73	Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.