Series 5000: Students

5112 Ages of Attendance

In accordance with Connecticut General Statute 10-186, the Board of Education shall provide  education for all persons five years of age and older, having attained age five on or before the  first day of January of any school year, and under twenty-one years of age who is not a graduate  of a high school or vocational school, except as provided in Connecticut General Statutes 10- 233c and 10-233d. Additionally, according to Connecticut General Statute 10-76d (b2), special  education will be provided for children who have attained the age of three and who have been  identified as being in need of special education, and whose educational potential will be  irreparably diminished without special education. 

Parents and/or guardians of children five years of age and over and under eighteen years of age,  are obligated by Connecticut law to require their children to attend public day school or its  equivalent in the district in which such child resides, unless such child is a high school graduate  or the parent or guardian of such child is able to show that the child is elsewhere receiving  equivalent instruction in the studies taught in the public schools. The parent or guardian of a  child sixteen or seventeen years of age must consent to such child’s withdrawal from school. For  the school year commencing July 1, 2011 and each school year thereafter, the parent or guardian of a child seventeen years of age may consent to such child’s withdrawal from school. The parent  or guardian shall exercise this option by personally appearing at the school district office to sign  a withdrawal form. Such withdrawal form shall include an attestation from a guidance counselor  or school administrator of the school that this district has provided the parent or person with  information on the educational opportunities options available in the school system and in the  community. 

The parent or guardian of a child five years of age shall have the option of not sending the child  to school until the child is six years of age. The parent or guardian of a child six years of age  shall have the option of not sending the child to school until the child is seven years of age. 

The parent or guardian shall exercise such option by personally appearing at the school district  office and signing an option form. The district shall provide the parent or guardian with  information on the educational opportunities available in the school system. 

A child who has attained the age of seventeen and who has voluntarily terminated enrollment  with parental consent in the district’s schools and subsequently seeks readmission may be denied  readmission for up to ninety school days from the date of such termination unless such child  seeks readmission to the District not later than ten (10) school days after such termination in  which case the Board shall provide school accommodations to such child not later than three  school days after such child seeks readmission. 

A child who has attained the age of nineteen or older may be placed in an alternative school  program or other suitable educational program if he/she cannot acquire a sufficient number of  credits for graduation by age twenty-one.

(cf. 5111 - Admission/Placement) 

(cf. 5112 - Ages of Attendance) 

(cf. 6146 - Graduation Requirements) 

Legal Reference:

Connecticut General Statutes 

10-15 Towns to maintain schools 

10-15c Discrimination in public schools prohibited. School attendance by  five-year-olds 

10-76a - 10-76g re special education 

10-184 Duties of parents (re mandatory schooling for children ages five to  sixteen, inclusive) as amended by PA-98-243, PA 00-157 and PA 09-6  (September Special Session) 

10-186 Duties of local and regional boards of education re school  attendance. Hearings. (Amended by PA 96-26 An Act Concerning  Graduation Requirements and Readmission and Placement of Older  Students) 

Appeals to State Board. Establishment of hearing board 

10-233a - 10-233f Inclusive; re: suspend, expel, removal of pupils 

10-233c Suspension of pupils 

10-233d Expulsion of pupils 

State Board of Education Regulations 

10-76a-1 General definitions (c) (d) (q) (t) 

Policy adopted: February 12, 2018 THOMASTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS Thomaston, Connecticut