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(b) participate in appropriate classroom and assembly programs; and

(c) provide services in a nonstigmatizing way in the schools;

(5) coordinate the security efforts and establish a chain of command for personnel employed by the school and the district;

(6) within the parameters of legally-mandated confidentiality, establish effective and reliable methods for the timely sharing of student information, especially regarding students who have a history of criminal behavior;

(7) explain how the safety plan has been coordinated with community emergency plans and relevant state and community agencies;

(8) include a program through which school and district personnel, students, parents, and relevant state and community agencies are familiarized with the contents of the plan or, if appropriate, trained to meet their responsibilities under the plan;

(9) include a service coordination matrix identifying services and programs provided by community and state resources which are available to address school and student safety needs including, but not limited to, services and programs available to address risk factors associated with violent student behavior;

(10) include a ready reference containing emergency procedures and current telephone numbers to be used in identified emergencies; and

(11) recommend changes including, but not limited to, changes in supervision procedures, schedules, curriculum, assignments, training and technology needed to achieve a safe, secure school environment.

Section 59-66-350. All district and school safety plans must be reviewed and approved by the district board of trustees.

Section 59-66-360. Each safety committee shall prepare a written report identifying impediments to cooperation and coordination between community resources and the district and its schools including, but not limited to, law enforcement, juvenile probation and parole, juvenile corrections, health and human services, and social rehabilitation agencies. In the written report each Safety Committee also shall identify impediments to the provision of appropriate state and community resources on the school site. The written report must be provided to the Schoolhouse Safety Resource Center in the same manner as and with the

Section 59-66-370. District and school safety plans must be submitted for approval to the Schoolhouse Safety Resource Center by the district superintendent, working through the district safety coordinator. The Schoolhouse Safety Resource Center shall review district and school safety plans for purposes of approving or disapproving each plan. The center shall provide specific recommendations for revisions to provisionally approved plans and shall provide technical assistance and specific recommendations for revisions to disapproved plans.

Section 59-66-380. After approval of the initial safety plans, annual revisions must be a part of the school or district strategic plan required by Section 59-20-60.

Section 59-66-390. (A) A Schoolhouse Safety Resource Center is established within the State Department of Education in the manner the General Assembly shall provide in the annual general appropriations act.

(B) Duties and responsibilities of the Schoolhouse Safety Resource Center, in addition to any others assigned to the center by this chapter, are to:

(1) establish, with the approval of the State Board of Education, the criteria and process by which school and district safety plans are evaluated for approval by the center;

(2) publish and disseminate to all schools and school districts a comprehensive, detailed guide of topics which must be included in comprehensive school and district safety plans;

(3) with the assistance of the Office of the Attorney General, identify and provide explanations of state and federal criminal laws which are relevant to school safety and which supplement school and district disciplinary codes;

(4) sponsor regional workshops for school and district safety committees, safety coordinators, and other appropriate school and district personnel so as to provide training in the development and implementation of school and district safety plans;

(5) develop or select model curricula for school safety training programs for faculty and designated staff of all schools and school districts;

(6) serve as a clearinghouse for information on the best practices for:

(a) prevention of safety crises;

(b) intervention during safety crises; and

(c) crisis response follow-up;

(8) annually report to the General Assembly on impediments to: (a) coordination and cooperation of safety efforts between:

(i) districts and their schools; and

(ii) relevant state and community resources; and

(b) the provision of appropriate community and state services in a nonstigmatizing way on the school site;

(9) assist the State Board of Education in developing, modifying, or selecting curriculum for teaching students peaceful conflict resolution and nonviolent living; and,

(10) make recommendations to the General Assembly for improving development and implementation of school and district safety plans, for increased coordination and cooperation between schools and relevant state and community resources, and for provision of community and state services in a nonstigmatizing way on the school site.

SECTION 15. (A) A three-year pilot project for school-based counseling services must be established jointly by the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Education. The purpose of the project is to provide an array of school-based and child-focused counseling services developed by the Department of Mental Health in designated schools. The pilot project must serve at least fourteen schools during the first year. The number of pilot test sites may be expanded each of the remaining two years of the pilot test, if adequate funds are provided and expansion does not compromise supervision and evaluation of the pilot project.

(B) The services must include, but are not limited to:

(1) a child-focused school-based counseling clinic;

(2) training, consultation, and support programs for school staff.

(C) The schools chosen must be:

(1) geographically representative;

(2) representative of the socio-economic diversity of the State;

(3) representative of various size student populations;

(4) middle and junior high schools.

(D) The Department of Mental Health and the Department of Education jointly are responsible for selecting individual schools and mental health centers within the designated parameters for participation in the pilot project.

(2) The local education authorities are responsible for providing appropriate office space and furniture for the mental health personnel stationed at the designated schools.

(3) The Department of Mental Health and the Department of Education shall seek Medicaid reimbursement to offset the cost of the pilot project to the State and shall consult with the Health and Human Services Finance Commission to estimate the resulting revenue as a result of services as a match for federal Medicaid reimbursement. The designated centers and schools are required to explore ways of redirecting or expanding support other than state funds. The department shall maximize the probability of federal or foundation funding or both.

(F) (1) There is established a School-Based Mental Health Pilot Project Advisory Board consisting of one member appointed by each of the following: the State Superintendent of Education, the Director of the Department of Mental Health, and the chair of the Legislative-Governor's Committee on Mental Health and Mental Retardation. The chair of the advisory board shall appoint other appropriate individuals to serve as the advisory board considers necessary.

(2) The advisory board shall meet quarterly to review pilot project information and advise with regard to the project's implementation. Participating centers and schools shall provide quarterly updates to the advisory board.

(3) The involved departments shall submit an annual report containing a financial statement, which includes Medicaid reimbursement data, and a report of activities no later than September first each year of the project to the Legislative-Governor's Committee on Mental Health and Mental Retardation on the progress of the pilot project.

(4) The Division of Children, Adolescents, and Their Families, Department of Mental Health, is responsible for providing staff support to the advisory board.

(G) The Department of Mental Health, in consultation and cooperation with the Department of Education, shall establish before December 1, 1994, an evaluation procedure which includes the collection of data and allows the process to be evaluated and, to the extent possible, it must measure the effectiveness of the project as a whole and the effectiveness

(H) If school-based counseling proves successful during pilot testing, it is the intent of the General Assembly that successful counseling services be implemented statewide in all public middle and junior high schools over a three-year phase in period beginning with the 1997-98 school year. Upon funding for statewide implementation by the General Assembly, the Department of Mental Health and the State Board of Education, through the State Department of Education, are responsible for causing implementation to occur with priority for funding given to schools with the greatest need for counseling services.

(I) Throughout any phase in to statewide implementation, the Department of Mental Health, in cooperation and consultation with the Department of Education, shall continue to cause the programs to be evaluated and indicated refinements made.

(J) The General Assembly shall appropriate funds for the planning, development, pilot testing, evaluation, and statewide implementation of this section.

SECTION 16. This division may be cited as the "Parent-School Responsibilities Act".

SECTION 17. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 59-17-130. The school districts of this State shall encourage parents to become involved in their children's education as early as possible and make parental involvement and home-school relations a major component of school improvement efforts. The school districts shall keep records of at-risk children, as defined by the department in regulation, and their behavior, provide counseling when available, assist parents in understanding their children's behavior, and when necessary refer children

SECTION 18. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 59-26-90. The State Board of Education shall promulgate regulations to provide that school guidance counselors are employed primarily to counsel students, give group guidance where appropriate, and work with the students, parents, and teachers."

SECTION 19. Section 20-7-20 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding at the end:

"(G) The State has a paramount interest in ensuring that children receive a primary and secondary education. State and county officials shall do everything within their jurisdictional authority to carry out the provisions of the South Carolina school attendance law and the South Carolina Children's Code to prevent school nonattendance."

SECTION 20. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 20-7-1352. The requirement of acceptable school attendance and appropriate behavior must be an integral part of all probation orders."

SECTION 21. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 20-7-1353. Probation and parole counselors are required to assist in the reenrollment of all their clients who are children in the public schools upon the child's release from confinement facilities and to report to the State Department of Education and the appropriate local advocacy group for children a school's refusal to reenroll or enroll a child."
SECTION 22. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 59-65-55. (A) If, during the activities designed to remedy truant behavior as provided in Sections 59-65-50 and 59-65-60, the parent or guardian of the student who is the subject of these activities transfers the student to another school district in the State, the administration of the school from which the student transferred shall include all plans and documentation associated with improving attendance with the official records that are sent to the receiving school district. The receiving school district must continue the activities as specified in the plans or documentation, unless the activities are modified in a conference with the family or in a proceeding before the family court, as appropriate.

(B) No one except the board of trustees or its designee may institute the proceedings provided in this article. A school board which wilfully fails to follow the requirements of this section may be cited by the State Board of Education with an accreditation deficiency under the defined minimum program."

"Section 59-65-20. If any a parent or guardian who wilfully neglects to enroll his child or ward or refuses to make such child or ward attend school shall, upon conviction, be fined in school as provided in this article, the school district shall report such nonenrollment to the solicitor in writing. The solicitor immediately shall petition the Family Court for an order directing the parent or guardian to appear before the court for a hearing. At the hearing the court may order the parent or guardian to enroll the child in school. A parent or guardian who fails to comply with the order may be held in contempt and fined not more than fifty dollars or be imprisoned not more than thirty days;. Each day's absence shall constitute a separate offense; provided. However, the court may in its discretion may suspend the sentence of anyone convicted of the provisions of this article."

SECTION 24. Section 59-65-50 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 59-65-50. If the board of trustees of a school district or its designee is unable to obtain the school attendance of a child in the age group specified in Section 59-65-10, the board or its designee shall report such nonattendance in writing to the juvenile court or such other court in the county as may have jurisdiction of juveniles but exclusive of magistrate's courts notwithstanding the provisions of Section 22-3-540; provided, that no one except the board of trustees or its designee shall have the authority to institute the proceedings herein.
(A) The board of trustees of a school district shall notify all enrolled students and parents or guardians of students of the school attendance laws and the penalties and consequences at the beginning of each school year. The student's parent or guardian must be notified of the student's unlawful absences. Notice must be by telephone contact with the student's parent or guardian by the end of the following school day, by regular mail sent no later than the following school day, or by any other reasonable means.

(B) (1) After three consecutive unlawful absences or five cumulative unlawful absences, the school district shall determine if the child's future achievement, attendance, or well-being is in jeopardy and if so schedule a conference with the student and parent or guardian and formulate a proposed intervention plan to ensure the student's continued attendance. The district shall make every reasonable effort to schedule the conference at a mutually convenient time and place which does not conflict with the parent's or guardian's employment, and shall provide or arrange for transportation where necessary to enable the parent or guardian to attend.

The plan must be reduced to writing by the school district, a copy included in the child's permanent record, and a copy provided to the parent or guardian no later than five working days after the conference.

(C) After a child has had six consecutive unlawful absences or a total of eight unlawful absences, the school district may file a report with the solicitor if it is determined that future achievement, attendance, or well-being are in jeopardy. The report must indicate the affirmative action taken by the district to work with the child, with the parent or guardian and all other appropriate entities to secure the child's attendance. Filing of such a report does not relieve the school district of its responsibility to continue to seek a cooperative resolution of the nonattendance problem up to the time the case is heard in court."

SECTION 25. Section 59-65-60 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 59-65-60. (a) Upon receipt of such report, the court may forthwith order the appearance before such court of the responsible parent or guardian and if it deems necessary, the minor involved, for such action as the court may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this article.

(b) The court may, after hearing upon ten days notice, order such parent or guardian to require such child to attend school and upon failure of such parent to comply with such order may punish such parent or guardian as by contempt, provided, that punishment for such contempt cannot exceed fifty dollars or thirty days imprisonment for each offense.

The procedure herein provided shall be alternative to the penalties provided in Section 59-65-20.

(2) order the intervention plan modified in a manner specified by the court, and that activities assigned to parties in the modified plan be performed;

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