Student Attendance Review Board (SARB)

The California Education Code and the Welfare and Institutional Code provide that legal action may be taken against students and/or parents/legal guardians when students are truant, as parents/legal guardians are required to ensure that students between the ages of six and eighteen attend school. 

By law, a student is truant when absent without a valid excuse three (3) or more days, or tardy thirty (30) minutes or more three (3) times during a school year.  All truants are reported to the Child Welfare and Attendance (CWA) Coordinator and may be subject to referral to the School Attendance Review Board (SARB). 

If a student is reported as truant four (4) times in a school year, the student may be deemed a habitual truant and may be adjudged a ward of the juvenile court, ordered to pay a fine, perform community services, attend a court-ordered truancy prevention program, and/or be subject to suspension/revocation of driving privileges.

It is the parents’/legal guardians’ legal responsibility to ensure that their child attends school.  Students who have severe attendance problems will be referred to SARB for intervention.  Families who fail to comply with the SARB agreement will be referred to the District Attorney’s office.  Court action may ensue and financial and other penalties may be assessed against the parents/legal guardians for failure to ensure their student’s school attendance.