SECTION 1. The General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, are hereby amended in chapter 69 by adding after 1N the following:-

Section 1O. Truancy prevention program

The department of elementary and secondary education shall develop a standard truancy prevention program for all districts that involves the school, child, and family. Individual school districts shall request changes to this program for their district by submitting requests in writing to the department.

Before a school administrator refers a child for habitually truant behavior or expels a child for failure to comply with the lawful and reasonable rules of the school, he or she must first show that the school, child, and family have completed a department of education certified truancy program.

The department shall evaluate the effectiveness of the program by school district and individual school and include the student’s age, gender, and race.  The results of that evaluation and recommendations for legislation, if any, shall be reported annually.

SECTION 2. Chapter 119 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended in lines 52-54 of section 21 by deleting the definition for “Parent” in its entirety and inserting in place thereof the following:-

“Parent(s)”, a mother, father, legal guardian, or other person(s) legally responsible for a child’s care.

And, is further amended in section 39E by inserting in line 18 after the word “school”, the following:-

But before such a petition is filed, it must first be shown that the school, child, and family have completed a department of elementary and secondary education certified truancy program.

SECTION 3. The secretary of the executive office of health and human services shall annually, on February 1, file a report on how the unique needs of girls who run away from their parents and legal guardians are being addressed.