Depending on the circumstances, different officials are responsible for enforcing truancy laws. Local boards of education are required to monitor unexcused absences and have policies and procedures for dealing with truancy. Boards must turn to the Superior Court for help when a student's parent or guardian refuses to cooperate. Boards can hire attendance officers to investigate student absences and present violations to prosecutors. Finally, local police have authority to check to see whether school aged children are truant and, if they are, to send them to school.
Police can also arrest habitual truants.
By law, local and regional boards of education, local police, and courts are responsible for enforcing the mandatory school attendance laws when parents fail to send their children to school or provide them with equivalent instruction. Their responsibilities vary depending on the situation. The law requires each local board of education to adopt and implement policies and procedures to deal with truants enrolled in their schools. Boards must monitor individual unexcused absences of children in grades K-8 and make a reasonable effort to notify the student's parent or person having control over him when the child is absent. They must also, within 10 days of the student's fourth unexcused absence in a month or 10 th in a school year, hold a meeting with the students' parents to discuss the situation.