Chap. 377.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 683 and 684, as heretofore
amended, 685, and 686 of the Code of Virginia, relating to compulsory school
attendance, records and reports and the duties of certain officers relating thereto,
and providing penalties for violations; and to further amend the said Code by
adding thereto a new section numbered 686-a, providing for the enforcement
of compulsory attendance laws and penalties for violations. [H B 155]

Approved April 1, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
sections six hundred and eighty-three and six hundred and eighty-four,
as heretofore amended, six hundred and eighty-five and six hundred
and eighty-six of the Code of Virginia be amended and re-enacted, and
that the said Code be further amended by adding thereto a new section
numbered six hundred and eighty-six-a, so that said amended sections
and said new section shall read 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 fifteenth birthday, shall send such child, or
children, to a public school, or to a private, denominational or paro-
chial 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 com-
pulsory 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 section 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 shall it apply to children
between the ages aforesaid who have completed the elementary course
of study prescribed by the State Board of Education, and who are
actually, regularly and lawfully employed; nor to children under ten
years of age who live more than two (2) miles from a public school,
unless public transportation is provided within one mile of the place
where such children live; nor to children between ten and fifteen
years of age who live more than two and one-half (214) miles from a
public school, unless public transportation is provided within one and
one-half (14%) miles of the place where such children live. Com-
pulsory education distances 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 de-
termined 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 fifteen 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
provided 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 said period in studies
usually taught in said public schools to children of the same age,
provided that the superintendent 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 superintendents or principals, may
excuse cases of necessary absence among its enrolled pupils, and pro-
vided, further, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to
a child whose physical or mental condition is such as to render its
instruction as above described inexpedient or impracticable. Every
person having under his or her control a child between the ages above
set forth, shall cause such child to attend school or receive instruction
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 fifteen 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 fifteen 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 require-
ments with regard to age and distance, according to the provisions
of section six hundred and 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 superinten-
dent shall within fifteen 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
corporation 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 un-
lawfully from school or employs or harbors any such child absent
unlawfully from school, while said school is in session, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof before a
juvenile and domestic relations court, or a 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 beginning 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
fifteen 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 superintendents 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 Superintendents of the schools for the blind
whose duty it shall be to investigate 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 attend school as provided in
section six hundred and 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 is a 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
competent ophthalmologist 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
compensation 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 fifteen years of age. Such record
shall, at all times, be open to any officer authorized to enforce the pro-
visions 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
power 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 attendance 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 attendance 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 allowed by the board in
counties and the school board in cities, and paid out of funds provided
therefor in the school budget. c

Section 686. Misdemeanor to keep child from school; neglected
child; jurisdiction——Any parent, guardian, or other person having
control of a child, who fails to send such child to school, as required by
section six hundred and eighty-three, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Any such parent, guardian, or other person who makes a false state-
ment concerning the age of a child between the ages of seven and fif-
teen 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 induce any child to be absent unlawfully from school, or
who knowingly employs or harbors, while school is in session, any
child absent unlawfully, 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 parent, guardian, or other person having
control thereof, to be habitually absent from school, contrary to sec-
tion six hundred and 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 attor-
neys for the Commonwealth of the several counties and cities to prose-
cute all cases arising under this and section six hundred and eighty-
three.

In cities having juvenile and domestic relations courts and counties
having trial justice courts, such courts shall have exclusive original
jurisdiction for the trial of such cases. In those cities not having
juvenile courts and counties not having trial justice courts, such prose-
cutions shall be before a police justice of a city, or the circuit or cor-
poration court of such county or city. However, where it is found
upon investigation 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 person 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.

Section 686-a. Enforcement of compulsory attendance laws;
State Board regulations; penalties for failure to enforce——The State
Board of Education shall have the authority and it shall be its duty
to see that the compulsory attendance laws, as provided in sections
six hundred and eighty-three, six hundred and eighty-four, six hundred
and eighty-five, and six hundred and eighty-six of the Code, are
properly enforced in the counties and cities of the State.