Student Attendance Review Board (SARB) Project

In the case where a parent and student need to attend a SARB meeting, what
would be the step-by-step process?

I.

Before SARB
A. What triggers SARB?
1. 8th Truancy
B. What notifications should the parents receive?
1. A letter mailed and sent home with the student at
least two weeks before SARB meeting date.
2. If date of the meeting is missed, contact the parent
by phone call to reschedule.
3. If necessary, make a home visit to reschedule the
SARB meeting, with urgency.
C. What materials should the school prepare in advance of the
SARB?
1. Policy Guidelines the school may have:
a) Attendance Policy and Procedures
Manual
b) Pupil Services Staff Resource Guide
c) Essential Strategies
d) Intervention Guide (SARB)
e) Community Resource Guide
2. Possible resources for parents/student
a) Mental Health or Parent Counseling
b) Child Care
c) Mentoring/Tutoring
d) Recreational Programs
D. What materials should the parent and student prepare in advance
of the SARB?
1. Provide reasons or issues causing student
attendance (living situation, major changes, parenting issues, substance
abuse issues, mental health or health issues, etc.)
2. Information related to involvement with the
Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Department of
Probation, and CalWORKs information.

II.

At SARB
A. Where should it be held?
1. At the school the student attends
B. Who should be there? (Panel Members)
1. Teacher(s) of the student
2. Guidance counselor (clinical)
3. Director/Principal
4. Dean/Assistant Principal

5. PSW (if necessary)

6. Administrator
C. How should seats be arranged?
1. If everyone sits in a circle, it is less intimidating.
There is no head of the table, making it seem less aggressive and more
all including.
D. Who should speak first? Second? Etc? What should be said?
1. The SARB team should begin first with basic
introduction. The SARB team should continue by discussing their purpose
and the reasons for the meeting. Discussion of past interventions and
meetings should be discussed. This should then lead into current
attendance policies, laws, and consequences.
2. The parent and student will talk next. Parent and
student need to clarify their reason(s) for the eight or more unexcused
absences.
3. SARB team end with providing assisting resources
and useful contacts to help with identified issues and to prevent further
absences.
E. What are possible outcomes?
1. Rewarding resources provided by the SARB team
and prevention of further absences.
2. The student continues to have unexcused
absences, therefore further consequential action would need to be taken
place.
III.

After SARB
A. What will happen if attendance does not improve?
1. Mail a SARB violation letter to the student and
parent and schedule an appointment for Resource Panel.
B. How often should SARB outcomes be reviewed to ensure
compliance?
C. Who is in charge of the review/.
D. Where should the reviews take place?

How can we approach students who experience high absence rates BEFORE the SARB
program has to be involved? How can we help guide students and parents to prevent
unexcused absences?
What is the cause of the students absences?
Sub questions to investigate:
How is the students home life?
What is involved? Abuse? Deprivation?
How is the students personal life?
What does the student do outside of school? Do they work after
school? Is there any illegal activity such as drugs, vandalism, theft, or drinking?
How is the students at school experience?
How is the students life in school? Are they bullied? How is their
teacher:student relationship? Do they have friends? What kind of friends do they
have?
How do they get to and from school?
What is the students medical history?
Does the student have any sort of disability or medical issue such
as ADD/ADHD, anxiety, depression, dyslexia, or any other medical problem such
as autism or down syndrome?
Who are the students parents, and what is their history?
Are the parents divorced? Where do they work? How much is their
annual income? What are their hours? Did they go to college/High School?
How is the students work ethic? What are their grades?
What is the students average GPA? Do they turn in work late?
How are their test scores? How is their problem solving skills? What are their
grades?
Are there patterns? Is their a weak subject? Are
their any spontaneous dips in their grades? Dips can be a sign of events
that may affect emotional, physical, or mental stability.

How do we find the root of the problem of student truancy before the need of SARB?
One on one confrontation with the student and counselor
How can we make a student comfortable? How should issues be
approached (depending on the students age, nationality, and family income)
Parent teacher conferences
Group discussion/Seminars
Peace Day: Groups are created by intermingling different grade
levels with a total of 20-30 students per group/room, facilitated only by student
representatives (Student Ambassadors/Student counselors). The discussion is
started with icebreakers, and then leads to talking about student life. Because the
discussion is an held in an Open and Safe Space, the questions begin to
become more personal, which leads to students openly discussing problems they
may have personally or at home.
Student Blogs

 Student blogs are made for students to log into a certain number
of times a week, usually for a specific class. The blog can either be personal, or
can be a part of classroom life. Short prompts can be provided to guide students
when writing their blogs. Writing can help a student express their lives and
problems in words and can help relieve stress