§ 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.