The purpose of this Chapter is twofold: First, to provide a vehicle whereby the Tribes may directly intervene to provide assistance to any juvenile covered by this Chapter, and second, to create a mechanism whereby the Tribes work cooperatively with schools and school districts that are located in whole or part on the Colville Indian Reservation or who educate students covered by this Chapter in order to improve the attendance and behavior of juveniles covered by this Chapter.

This Chapter, and its provisions, shall apply to all enrolled members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, to all members of recognized Indian tribes who have significant ties to the Colville Tribes, and in addition to all students of Indian descent and their parents or guardians (to the extent not otherwise covered) who consent to be covered by the terms and conditions of this Chapter, and any Cooperative Agreement entered into with a school district.

(a) All parents of any child six years of age and under eighteen years of age and covered by this Chapter shall cause such juvenile to attend school as provided herein and such child shall have the responsibility to and therefore shall attend for the full time when such school may be in session.

(b) As used in this Section school shall include the following:

A child and his or her parent shall be excused from the requirements of this Chapter and shall not be subject to the penalties set out herein if:

(a) The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation may by acting through the Colville Business Council enter into cooperative agreements with any school operating in whole or in part on the Colville Indian Reservation for purposes of increasing and improving the attendance of children who are covered by this Chapter or addressing behavioral problems that could lead to a student covered by an agreement being removed from school.

(b) All agreements authorized under this section shall be in writing and shall be approved by the Colville Business Council. No agreement shall authorize the expenditures of any funds by the Tribes, unless approved by the full Colville Business Council; nor, shall any agreement waive the sovereign immunity of the Tribes, its agencies, employees or agents.

(c) Every agreement entered into under the authority of this Section shall contain the following provisions:

Whenever a juvenile is referred to a Tribal attendance officer pursuant to a cooperative agreement entered into as provided under this Chapter, or whenever a parent of an enrolled juvenile, or a Tribal official informs a Tribal attendance officer that a juvenile required to attend school fails to attend school without valid justification recurrently or for an extended period of time, the attendance officer shall, where appropriate, take some or all of the following actions:

If action taken pursuant to 5-3-5 is not successful in substantially reducing a student's absences from school or if the parent or juvenile refuse to comply voluntarily, any of the following actions may be taken:

(a) To aid in the enforcement of this Chapter, Tribal attendance officers shall be appointed by the Colville Business Council. Appointment may be from exiting staff or new staff authorized by the Colville Business Council shall approve attendance officers for each cooperative agreement entered into under this Chapter, and may in addition appoint attendance officers to act in other circumstances.

(b) All Tribal law enforcement officers or Fish and Game officers may be appointed to be attendance officers.

(c) The attendance officer shall be vested with police powers, the authority to make arrests and serve all legal processes contemplated under this Chapter, and shall have authority to enter all places pursuant to law in which children may be employed, for the purpose of making such investigations as may be necessary for the enforcement of this Chapter.

(d) The Tribal attendance officer is authorized to take into custody any child enrolled in the Confederated Tribes, when the child is six years of age and not over eighteen years of age, when the attendance officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the child may be a truant from school, and thereafter to conduct such child to his/her parents, for investigation and explanation, or to the school which he/she should properly attend.

(e) The Tribal attendance officer may institute proceedings against any officer, parent, guardian, person, company or corporation violating any provisions of this Chapter, and shall otherwise discharge the duties prescribed in this Chapter, and shall perform appropriate services as the Colville Business Council may deem necessary or that may be required under an agreement entered into under this Chapter.

(f) The Tribal attendance officer shall keep a record of his transactions for the inspection and information of any school with an agreement with the Tribes and the Colville Business Council and shall make a detailed report to the Business Council as often as the same may be required.

(a) Any person found by the Tribal Court to have violated or to be violating any of the provisions of this Chapter shall be subject to diversionary action or fined not more than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for each day of unexcused absence from school. In addition, a child found to be in violation shall be required to attend school. Failure by a child to comply with an order issued under this Section shall be punishable by a fine of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for each day that the juvenile fails to comply. The Tribal Court may order that the parent, or the child or both comply with the program set out by the Tribal attendance officer, or as modified by the Tribal Court.

(b) It shall be a defense for a parent charged with violating this Chapter to show that he or she exercised reasonable diligence in attempting to cause a child in his or her custody to attend school or that the juvenile's school did not perform its duties as required under the law. Any fine imposed pursuant to this section may be suspended upon the condition that a parent charged with violating this Chapter shall participate with the Tribes, the school and the child in a supervised plan for the juvenile's attendance at school or upon condition that the parent attend a conference or counseling scheduled by the Tribal attendance officer for the purpose of analyzing the causes of a child's absence, or on condition that the parent comply with any other plan determined to be appropriate to assist the juvenile to attend school.

(c) Where the Court proceeding involves a child referred for discipline reasons, the Court may suspend any fine imposed if the child agrees to comply with a plan developed by the Tribal attendance officer, as it may be modified by the Court.

The Tribal prosecuting attorney shall act as attorney for the complainant in all court proceedings relating to the compulsory attendance of children as required by this Chapter except for those petitions filed against any child by the parent without the assistance of the Tribal attendance officer.

The attendance officer shall report biannually to the Colville Business Council on the petitions filed alleging a violation by a child under this Chapter. The report shall at a minimum contain:

Whenever the Tribal Court orders the payment of a fine to enforce the provisions of this Chapter, that fine shall be entered as a judgment of the Court and may be collected as any judgement, including the withholding of any per capita payment, or part thereof until fully paid. Provided, that when a fine is imposed against a child who is not fully and gainfully employed, the fine shall only be collected by the withholding of the per capita or at the discretion of the Court through the requirement of community service.

The failure of a parent to comply with an order entered pursuant to 5-3-6 of this Chapter may be grounds for Court action in any action brought pursuant to Chapter 5-2 of the Tribal Law and Order Code.

Whereas, the Colville Business Council on December 21, 1987, pursuant to Resolution 1987-726 adopted the Attendance Ordinance, and

Whereas, the adopted Attendance Ordinance contains procedures and mechanisms to assist students and parents in increasing the attendance of students in school, and correcting behavioral and other problems which would otherwise affect student performance in schools, and

Whereas, it is the consensus of the Colville Business Council that prior to referring any student or parent to Tribal Court that tribal staff and administrators charged with the enforcement of the Attendance Ordinance attempt to develop and implement a corrective program taking into account the social economic, and cultural background of the parent and student involved which is the least restrictive that accomplishes the goal of increased attendance in school performance. That if the corrective measures attempted are unsuccessful and it is determined that it is appropriate to refer either a parent or student to Tribal Court for imposition of penalties and sanctions as provided in the Attendance Ordinance, that the Tribal Court in determining what sanction or penalty to impose, take into account the economic, social and cultural circumstances presented in each case and implement the least restrictive measure or impose the least restrictive penalty that is designed to accomplish the goal of increased attendance and the correction of behavioral problems, and specifically, that the monetary penalties which are contained in the Attendance Ordinance should only be used as a last resort after all other effort have been tried and failed to correct the identified problems.