This bill requires, subject to certain exceptions, a public school to credit a student who participates in an activity or program sponsored by 4-H as present for attendance purposes.
Present law sets out in detail circumstances under which a school principal or the principal's designee may excuse a student from school attendance to participate in a nonschool-sponsored extracurricular activity. Present law also provides that the principal may limit the number and duration of nonschool-sponsored extracurricular activities for which excused absences may be granted to a student during the school year and prohibits a principal from excusing more than 10 absences each school year for students participating in nonschool-sponsored extracurricular activities.
Under this bill, a student who participates in an activity or program sponsored by 4-H must be credited as present by the school in which the student is enrolled in the same manner as an educational field trip. This bill provides that notwithstanding the above-described present law provisions, a school principal, or the principal's designee, may not count a student absent for participating in an activity or program sponsored by 4-H.
Upon request from a school principal, or the principal's designee, a 4-H agent must provide documentation as proof of a student's participation in an activity or program sponsored by 4-H. This bill requires that a student be given the opportunity to make up any school work missed while the student was participating in an activity or program sponsored by 4-H, and provides that the student's class grades must not be adversely affected for lack of attendance or participation due to the student's participation in an activity or program sponsored by 4-H.
This bill prohibits a school principal, or the principal's designee, from crediting a student who participates in an activity or program sponsored by 4-H as present if the student's participation in an activity or program sponsored by 4-H occurs during:
(1) The schedule established by the commissioner of education for the administration of the Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) tests; or
(2) Any period of time for which the student has been suspended, expelled, or assigned to an alternative school or alternative program, if the student's suspension, expulsion, or assignment to an alternative school or alternative program would otherwise preclude the student from participating in an educational field trip.