The Home & School Liaison (HSL) communicates with students and parents regarding the necessity and benefits of regular school attendance, and enforces the attendance expectations of the 21st Century Cyber Charter School and the mandatory attendance provisions of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The purpose of this role is to improve school attendance and deter truancy through a comprehensive approach to consistently identify and address attendance issues as early as possible with appropriate intervention techniques, to include home visits throughout the state.
The incumbent must be able to perform the following essential functions satisfactorily, with or without reasonable accommodations. This position description does not express or imply that these are the only duties to be performed by the incumbent(s) in this position.
Proactively communicates with students, parents and/or school personnel to inform them of state laws and district policies governing attendance.
Enforces compulsory attendance laws, school attendance policies and monitors the attendance patterns of chronic offenders; applies corrective action steps per school policy and applicable regulations.
Runs reports, identifies excessive absences and maintains accurate case files on students referred for attendance issues.
Investigates cases of repeated absences reported by building principals, and issues verbal and written warnings to parents that legal action will be taken if illegal absences continue; issues citations when necessary to parents of truant children. This process may require extensive travel throughout the Commonwealth.
Makes initial referrals to Children and Youth Services (CYS) or to a community-based truancy program. Follows up and maintains accurate records related to CYS referrals, community-based truancy referrals or related processes.
Conducts Home Visits, as required, to comply with school policy and/or established student attendance and truancy processes.
Collaborates and meets with school counselors, SAP team, psychologists, prevention specialists, and/or social service agencies such as Children and Youth Services and Human Services to create plans for all at-risk student cases.
Meets with school counselors and administrators to assist in creating a plan for each attendance problem.
Develops relationships with external referral agencies, community and neighborhood organizations.
Serves as liaison between the school, parents, the courts, community agencies, police authorities, and child placement agencies.
Assembles and prepares case documentation for District Court hearings on truant students, presenting testimony in front of District Judge.
Serves as liaison between parents and school, schedule parent meetings, and forward parent concerns to appropriate administrators.
Remains current regarding child welfare regulations with regard to state law, board policy and/or administrative guidelines.
The incumbent may need to flex their work hours/work schedule to address school attendance concerns.
Performs other duties as assigned by the supervisor.
Knowledge of current student attendance requirements pertaining to PDE, School Code and any applicable state or federal legislation.
Knowledge of District Court processes for student truancy. Ability to represent the School at District Court hearings and present testimony.
Ability to flex hours/work schedule to accommodate school attendance enforcement duties and responsibilities.
Ability to travel throughout the Commonwealth to meet position duties and responsibilities. Some travel may require overnight stays.
Ability to effectively communicate with staff, students, parents, and the public in a professional manner.
Ability to effectively use the SIS and related technology or software systems to run reports, collect data and concisely present data to colleagues, Principals and Administration in support of the school’s truancy processes.
Incumbent must be highly organized, with the ability to multitask, maintain accurate student records and work within established deadlines for truancy processes.
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each of the above essential job responsibilities satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the required functions.