2023 New York Laws › EDN - Education › Title 4 - Teachers and Pupils › Article 65 - Compulsory Education and School Census › Part 1 - Compulsory Education › 3213 - Supervisors of Attendance; Attendance Teachers; Attendance Officers; Appointment, Compensation, Powers and Duties.

§ 3213. Supervisors  of  attendance;  attendance  teachers; attendance
officers; appointment, compensation, powers and duties. 1.  Appointment,
removal, compensation and supervision. a. To the end that children shall
not  suffer  through  unnecessary failure to attend school for any cause
whatsoever, it shall be the duty of each  attendance  teacher  and  each
attendance supervisor to secure for every child his right to educational
opportunities   which   will   enable   him   to   develop  his  fullest
potentialities for education, physical, social and spiritual  growth  as
an   individual  and  to  provide  for  the  school  adjustment  of  any
nonattendant child  in  cooperation  with  school  authorities,  special
school services and community and social agencies.
The school authorities of each city school district, union free school
district,  central  school  district,  central  high school district, or
common school district whose limits include  in  whole  or  in  part  an
incorporated   village,  shall  appoint  and  may  remove  one  or  more
supervisors of attendance or attendance teachers  of  such  district.  A
supervisor of attendance shall be appointed in accordance with the civil
service law and rules, unless he or she is a licensed attendance teacher
or  a  teacher  licensed  to  teach in New York state, with such further
qualifications as the board of regents shall  establish.  On  and  after
July  first,  nineteen  hundred  fifty-five  no  full-time supervisor of
attendance shall be appointed unless  he  or  she  holds  a  license  as
attendance  teacher.  Such  supervisors  of attendance and those holding
full-time positions who are similarly  licensed  teachers  or  who  hold
attendance  teacher licenses shall be assigned to the step in the salary
schedule of the school district commensurate with the salary being  paid
such  supervisors  or teachers. Such persons shall be paid thereafter in
accordance with such schedule. If the amount of salary received on  said
July first, nineteen hundred fifty-five is less than the minimum step of
the salary schedule, such supervisor or teacher shall be paid until June
thirtieth,  nineteen hundred fifty-six at the rate of the first step and
in accordance with the schedule thereafter.
No supervisor of attendance or attendance teacher shall  be  appointed
who is not twenty-one years of age and in proper physical condition.
In the establishment of an eligible list advanced education related to
attendance  service  shall be taken into consideration in the grading of
the candidates. Experience in teaching, in social  service  and  welfare
work,  and  in  business  or in the professional field shall likewise be
taken into consideration.
Paragraph a of subdivision one of this section shall apply to  a  city
in  which attendance supervisors are appointed from an eligible list now
prepared by a board of examiners.
Supervisors of attendance in a city having a board of examiners  shall
be  licensed  as  attendance  teachers  only  when  they comply with the
regulations for such license  as  established  by  the  commissioner  of
education  and  any  additional requirements which may be established by
the board of examiners.
The board  of  education  shall  fix  the  compensation  of  part-time
supervisors  of  attendance  and prescribe their duties not inconsistent
with part one of this article and make rules  and  regulations  for  the
performance   thereof.   The   superintendent  of  schools  or  district
superintendent of schools shall supervise the enforcement of part one of
this article within such city or school district.
b. The town board of each town, with the approval, in writing, of  the
district  superintendent,  shall  appoint,  on or before August first of
each  year,  one  or  more  attendance  officers  and  shall  fix  their
compensation.  During  the  school  year it shall also fill promptly any
vacancy after notification thereof by the district  superintendent.  The

district  superintendent  shall  promptly  notify  the town board of his
approval or disapproval of an appointment. If within one  month  a  town
board  shall  not  comply  with  the  foregoing provisions, the district
superintendent,  subject  to  appeal  to  the commissioner of education,
shall exercise the powers and duties of  the  town  board  with  respect
thereto.   An  attendance  officer  appointed  for  a  town  shall  have
jurisdiction over all  school  districts  of  the  town  which  are  not
otherwise  provided  for  by  this section. He shall be removable at the
pleasure of  the  district  superintendent.  His  compensation  and  his
necessary  expenses  in  attending  conferences  called  by the district
superintendent shall be a town charge.
c. In case a school district shall include territory lying within  the
boundaries  of  more  than one town, the attendance officer appointed by
the town in which the schoolhouse is  located  shall  have  jurisdiction
over the entire school district.
2.   Powers  and  duties.  a.  Arrest  of  truants.  A  supervisor  of
attendance, attendance teacher or attendance officer, as  the  case  may
be,  may  arrest without warrant any minor who is unlawfully absent from
attendance upon instruction. He  shall  forthwith  place  the  minor  so
arrested  in  attendance  upon required instruction and shall notify the
parent or guardian of the minor, and he may then begin  proceedings  for
his  commitment  as  a  school  delinquent or arraign him before a court
having jurisdiction. Where a minor resides in one  school  district  and
attends school in another school district, the supervisor of attendance,
attendance teacher or attendance officer of the district where the minor
resides   and  the  supervisor  of  attendance,  attendance  teacher  or
attendance officer of the district where said minor attends school shall
have concurrent jurisdiction with reference to said  minor  and  to  the
person or persons in parental relation to him.
b. Right of entry.
(1)  A  supervisor  of  attendance,  attendance  teacher or attendance
officer, as the case may be, in the performance of his duties, may enter
during business hours any factory, mercantile or other establishment, or
other place in which a minor is believed to be employed within the  city
or  school  district  in which he is appointed, and shall be entitled to
examine on demand the employment certificates or work permits of  minors
therein  employed,  for  whose  lawful  employment  such certificates or
permits are required by the provisions of part one of this article.
(2) He may also enter any public place during the hours in  which  the
public  have access thereto, to ascertain if any minor is therein who is
required to attend upon instruction by the provisions  of  part  one  of
this article, or engaged in a street trade contrary to the provisions of
part  one  of  this  article, or to collect information required for the
school census.
c. Notification upon absence. It shall be the  duty  of  every  school
district  to  inform  persons  in parental relation to elementary school
pupils of such person's right to be notified when such pupil  is  deemed
absent  from  attendance  at  his designated school. Persons in parental
relation to elementary school pupils  shall,  if  such  notification  is
desired,  forward  a  request in writing to the principal of the pupil's
designated school. Such request shall contain the  telephone  number  of
person or persons in parental relation to the pupil or other information
to  facilitate  communication  with  such  persons by the most expedient
means available. No civil or criminal liability shall arise or attach to
any school district or employee thereof for any act or omission  to  act
as  a  result  of,  or  in  connection  with,  the  duties or activities
authorized or directed by this paragraph.
d. Notification  when  deemed  absent.  A  supervisor  of  attendance,
attendance  teacher,  attendance  officer, or other person authorized by
the school district, as the case may be,  shall,  where  a  request  for
notification  has been made pursuant to paragraph c of this subdivision,
notify  a  person in parental relation to any elementary school pupil by
the means designated in such request when such pupil  is  deemed  absent
from   required  attendance  at  his  designated  school  without  prior
notification and consent to such  absence  by  the  person  in  parental
relation.  No  civil  or criminal liability shall arise or attach to any
school district or employee thereof for any act or omission to act as  a
result of, or in connection with, the duties or activities authorized or
directed by this paragraph.
e.  To  the extent that supervisors of attendance, attendance teachers
and attendance officers act pursuant to this subdivision and subdivision
one of this section for the purpose of carrying out  the  provisions  of
part  one of this article, they shall be deemed to have acted within the
scope of their employment. Such personnel shall continue to have all the
powers, duties and responsibilities conferred on them by  law  prior  to
the date on which the provisions of this paragraph become effective.