Chap. 30.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 683, 684, 685 and 686, as
amended, of the Code of Virginia, relating to compulsory school attendance,
providing methods for enforcing attendance of certain children at public schools,
records and reports and the duties of certain officers relating thereto, and pro-
viding penalties for violation. [S 51]

Approved February 17, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That sections six hundred eighty-three, six hundred eighty-four,
six hundred eighty-five and six hundred eighty-six, as amended, of the
Code of Virginia, be amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 683. Compulsory attendance.—Every parent, guardian, or
other person in the Commonwealth, having control or charge of any child,
or children, who have reached the seventh birthday and have not passed
the sixteenth birthday, shall send such child, or children, to a public school,
or to a private, denominational or parochial school, or have such child
or children taught by a tutor or teacher of qualification prescribed by the
State Board of Education and approved by the division superintendent in
a home, and such child, or children, shall regularly attend such school
during the period of each year the public schools are in session and for
the same number of days and hours per day as in the public schools. The
period of compulsory attendance shall commence at the opening of the
first term of the school which the pupil attends and shall continue until
the close of such school for the school year. The provisions of this sec-
tion shall not apply to children physically or mentally incapacitated for
school work, nor to those children suffering from contagious or infectious
disease while suffering from such diseases; nor to children under ten
years of age who live more than two (2) miles from a public school, un-
less public transportation is provided within one mile of the place where
such children live; nor to children between ten and sixteen years of age
who live more than two and one-half (2%) miles from a public school,
unless public transportation is provided within one and one-half (12)
miles of the place where such children live. Compulsory education dis-
tances shall be measured or determined by the nearest practical routes,
which are usable for either walking or riding, from the entrance to the
school grounds, or from the nearest school bus stop, to the residence of
such children. Physical incapacity or disease shall be established by the
certificate of a reputable practicing physician, made in accordance with
the rules and regulations adopted by the State Board of Education, and
mental incapacity is to be determined by such mental test or tests as may
be prescribed by the State Board of Education.

Every blind or partially blind child and every deaf child between
seven and sixteen years of age, shall attend some school for the blind, or
some school for the deaf, or some class in the public schools wherein
special methods are used and special equipment and instruction are pro-
vided for the blind or deaf for nine months, or during the scholastic year,
unless it can be shown that the child is elsewhere receiving regularly
equivalent. instruction during the period in studies usually taught in the
public schools to children of the same age, provided that the superintend-
ent or principal of any school for the blind, or the public schools or the
schools for the deaf, or person or persons duly authorized by such sup-
erintendents or principals, may excuse cases of necessary absence among
its enrolled pupils, and provided, further, that the provisions of this sec-
tion shall not apply to a child whose physical or mental condition is such
as to render its instruction as above described inexpedient or impractic-
able. Every person having under his or her control a child between the
ages above set forth, shall cause the child to attend school or receive in-
struction as required by this section.

Section 684. List of pupils enrolled; failure to comply with com-
pulsory attendance law; attendance officer; proceedings; blind and deaf
children.—Within ten days after the opening of the school, each principal
teacher shall report to the division superintendent the names of the pupils
enrolled in the school, giving age, grade and the name and address of
parent or guardian.

Within ten days after the opening of the school, each principal teacher
shall submit another report to the division superintendent giving to the
best of the principal teacher's information the names of all children not
enrolled in school, with the name and address of parent or guardian,
within the limits of the compulsory education requirements with regard
to age and distance, according to the provisions of section six hundred
eighty-three of the Code.

The division superintendent shall check these lists with the last school
census and with reports from the Bureau of Vital Statistics. From these
reports and from any other reliable source the superintendent shall with-
in five days make a list of the names of children who are not enrolled in
any school, and who are not exempt from school attendance. It shall
be the duty of the division superintendent, or the attendance officer, if
one be employed, to investigate all cases of non-enrollment and, when
no valid reason is found therefor, to notify the parent, guardian or other
person having control of the child, to require the attendance of such child
at the school within three days from the date of such notice. A list of
persons so notified shall be sent by the superintendent of schools, or the
attendance officer, if there is one, to the principal teacher of the school.
If the parent, guardian or other person having control of the child or
children fails, within the specified time, to comply with the law, it shall
be the duty of the division superintendent or the chief attendance officer,
if there be one, to make complaint in the name of the Commonwealth
before the juvenile and domestic relations court of his city or before the
trial justice court of his county. If there be no such juvenile and domestic
relations court in his city or trial justice court in his county, then the
prosecution shall be instituted against such person in the circuit or cor-
poration court of the county or city in which the offense occurred, and, in
addition thereto, such child or children may be proceeded against as a
neglected child or children in the manner provided by chapter seventy-
eight of the Code, as amended.

Any person who induces, or attempts to induce, any blind or partially
blind child or a deaf child to absent himself or herself unlawfully from
school or employs or harbors any such child absent unlawfully from
school, while the school is in session, shall be deemed guilty of a mis-
demeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof before a juvenile and do-
mestic relations court, or trial justice court, be fined a sum not exceeding
ten dollars for each offense.

The principal teacher of every public school in the counties and towns
and the truant officers of the cities shall, within thirty days from the be-
ginning of the school year, furnish the division superintendent and the
county or city school board with the names of all children who are blind
or partially blind or deaf between the ages of seven and sixteen years,
inclusive, living within the boundaries of his or her school district who
do not attend school. It shall be the duty of the school board to certify
forthwith the names of all such deaf children to the respective superin-
tendents of the State schools for the deaf, and of all such blind or partially
blind children to the Virginia Commission for the Blind and to the super-
intendents of the schools for the blind whose duty it shall be to investi-
gate all cases of non-enrollment of such blind children, and when no valid
reason is found therefor, such child or children shall be required to at-
tend school as provided in section six hundred eighty-three of the Code.

For the practical interpretation of this and the preceding sections a
definition of a blind or partially blind child is as follows: A blind child
isa child who has, with correcting glasses, twenty two-hundredths (20/
200) vision or less, in the better eye. A partially blind child is a child
who has twenty-seventy (20/70) vision or less, in the better eye, or one
who has some progressive eye trouble which in the opinion of a compe-
tent aphthalmologist makes it necessary for the child to attend a special
school or a special class in the public schools.

Section 685. Daily record of attendance; duties, powers, and com-
pensation of attendance officers—Every teacher in every school in the
Commonwealth shall keep an accurate daily record of attendance of all
children between seven and sixteen years of age. Such record shall, at
all times, be open to any officer authorized to enforce the provisions of the
preceding or following sections who may inspect or copy the same, and
shall be admissible in evidence in any prosecution for a violation of any
of the preceding or succeeding sections, as prima facie evidence of the
facts stated therein.
Every county school board and school board of a city shall have pow-
er to appoint, with the approval of its division superintendent of schools,
one or more attendance officers who shall be primarily charged with the
enforcement of the preceding sections, and for such purpose only, such
attendance officers are hereby vested with the powers and authority of a
sheriff, provided that, in a county or city where no attendance officer is
appointed by the local school board, the division superintendent of schools
shall act as attendance officer with the same powers conferred on attend-
ance officers. The compensation of such attendance officers, or of the
division superintendent of schools, when he acts as such, shall be fixed
by the board in counties and the school boards in the cities. Every attend-
ance officer shall keep an accurate record of all notices served of cases
prosecuted and all other services performed, and shall make an annual
report of the same to the board appointing him. Attendance officers shall
not be entitled to fees, but the compensation of such officers shall be al-
lowed by the board in counties and the school board in cities, and paid
out of funds provided therefor in the school budget.

Section 686. Misdemeanor to keep children from school; neglected
child; jurisdiction.—Any parent, guardian, or other person having con-
trol of a child, who fails to send such child to school, as required by sec-
tion six hundred and eighty-three, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any
such parent, guardian, or other person who makes a false statement con-
cerning the age of a child between the ages of seven and sixteen years,
for the purpose of evading the provisions of the preceding section, shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person who induces or attempts to in-
duce any child to be absent unlawfully from school, or who knowingly
employs or harbors, while school is in session, any child absent unlaw-
fully, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person who violates any of
the provisions of this or section six hundred and eighty-three shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor. Any child or children permitted by any par-
ent, guardian, or other person having control thereof, to be habitually
absent from school, contrary to section six hundred eighty-three, shall
be deemed a neglected child, to be disposed of in the manner prescribed by
chapter seventy-eight of the Code of Virginia, as amended. It shall be
the duty of the attorneys for the Commonwealth of the several counties
and cities to prosecute all cases arising under this and section six hun-
dred eighty-three.

In cities having juvenile and domestic relations courts and counties
having trial justice courts, such courts shall have exclusive original juris-
diction for the trial of such cases. In those cities not having juvenile
courts and counties not having trial justice courts, such prosecutions
shall be before a police justice of a city, or the circuit or corporation
court of such county or city. However, where it is found upon investi-
gation that the parent, guardian or other person having control of a child,
or children, is unable to provide the necessary clothes in order that the
child or children may attend school, such parent, guardian or other per-
son shall not be punished, unless the local board of public welfare, from
public funds or otherwise, or some other agency or person, furnish such
child. or children, with the necessary clothes, and thereafter such parent,
guardian or other person fails to send such child, or children, to school,
as required by law. |