AN ACT to direct local boards of education to encourage local businesses to adopt personnel policies to permit parents to attend student conferences, and to encourage local boards of education to adopt policies to implement programs that assist students in making a successful transition between the middle School and high school years, Increase parental involvement in student ACHIEVEMENT, and reduce suspension and expulsion rates and encourage academic progress during suspensions, and to direct local boards of education to modify policies on pregnant and parenting students to provide assistance and support to encourage pregnant and parenting students to graduate, AS RECOMMENDED BY THE JOINT LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION ON DROPOUT PREVENTION AND HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑47(34) reads as rewritten:
"(34)	To Encourage the Business Community to Facilitate Student Achievement. – Local boards of education, in consultation with local business leaders, shall develop voluntary guidelines relating to after‑school employment. The guidelines may include an agreement to limit the number of hours a student may work or to tie the number of hours a student may work to his academic performance, school attendance, and economic need. The General Assembly finds that local boards of education do not currently have information regarding how many of their students are employed after school and how many hours they work; the General Assembly urges local boards of education to compile this critical information so that the State can determine to what extent these students' work affects their school performance.
Local boards of education shall work with local business leaders, including local chambers of commerce, to encourage employers to include and adopt as part of their stated personnel policies time for employees who are parents or guardians to attend conferences with their children's teachers.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall provide guidance and technical assistance to the local boards of education on carrying out the provisions of this subdivision."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑47 is amended by adding the following new subdivisions to read:
"(53)	To Encourage Programs for Successful Transition Between the Middle School and High School Years. – Local boards of education are encouraged to adopt policies to implement programs that assist students in making a successful transition between the middle school and high school years. The programs may include Ninth Grade Academies, programs to effectively prepare eighth grade students for the expectations and rigors of high school, early warning systems to flag students not ready for ninth grade and develop plans for those students, mentoring programs that pair upperclassmen with incoming students, and graduation plans for students who have fallen behind and are off track for graduation.
(54)	To Increase Parental Involvement in Student Achievement and Graduation Preparation. – Local boards of education are encouraged to adopt policies to promote and support parental involvement in student learning and achievement at school and at home and to encourage successful progress toward graduation. These policies may include strategies to increase school communications with parents regarding expectations for students and student progress, graduation requirements, and available course offerings, to provide increased opportunities for parental involvement in schools, and to create an environment in the schools conducive for parental involvement.
(55)	To Reduce Suspension and Expulsion Rates and Provide for Academic Progress During Suspensions. – Local boards of education are encouraged to adopt policies and best practices to reduce suspension and expulsion rates and to provide alternative learning programs for continued academic progress for students who have been suspended."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 115C‑375.5(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	Local boards of education shall adopt a policy to ensure that pregnant and parenting students are not discriminated against or excluded from school or any program, class, or extracurricular activity because they are pregnant or parenting students and to provide assistance and support to encourage pregnant and parenting students to remain enrolled in school and graduate. The policy shall include, at a minimum, all of the following:
(1)	Local school administrative units shall use, as needed, supplemental funds from the At‑Risk Student Services allotment to support programs for pregnant and parenting students.
(2)	Notwithstanding Part 1 of Article 26 of this Chapter, pregnant and parenting students shall be given excused absences from school for pregnancy and related conditions for the length of time the student's physician finds medically necessary. This includes absences due to the illness or medical appointment during school hours of a child of whom the student is the custodial parent.
(3)	Homework and make‑up work shall be made available to pregnant and parenting students to ensure that they have the opportunity to keep current with assignments and avoid losing course credit because of their absence from school and, to the extent necessary, a homebound teacher shall be assigned."
SECTION 4.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 13th day of July, 2009.

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		 Walter H. Dalton
	 President of the Senate

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		 Joe Hackney
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

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		 Beverly E. Perdue
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2009