280.29 Enrollment of children adjudicated or in foster care — transfer of educational records — services.

1. In order to facilitate the educational stability of children adjudicated under chapter 232 or receiving foster care services, a school district, upon notification by an agency of the state that a child adjudicated under chapter 232 or receiving foster care services is transferring to and enrolling in the school district, shall provide for the immediate and appropriate enrollment of the child. The school district shall do the following:

a. Work with an area education agency child welfare liaison, if the area education agency has employed such a liaison in accordance with section 273.2, subsection 10, to develop systems to ease the enrollment transition of a child adjudicated under chapter 232 or receiving foster care services to another school.

b. Develop procedures for awarding credit for coursework, including electives, completed by a child adjudicated under chapter 232 or receiving foster care services while enrolled at another school.

(1) Credits and grades earned and offered for acceptance shall be based on official transcripts and shall be accepted without validation unless required under the receiving school district’s accreditation requirements.

(2) If the child earned less than a passing grade for a unit of coursework, the school district may require the child to retake the class in middle or high school. If the school district determines the child’s proficiencies in an elementary grade are substantially deficient, the child’s parent or guardian shall be notified and intensive instructional services and supports pursuant to section 279.68 shall be provided if appropriate.

c. Promote practices that facilitate access by a child adjudicated under chapter 232 or receiving foster care services to extracurricular programs, summer programs, and credit transfer services.

d. Establish procedures to lessen the adverse impact of the enrollment transfer of a child adjudicated under chapter 232 or receiving foster care services to another school.

e. Enter into a memorandum of understanding with the department of human services regarding the exchange of information as appropriate to facilitate the enrollment transition of children adjudicated under chapter 232 or receiving foster care services from one school to another school.

f. Provide other assistance as identified by the area education child welfare liaison.

2. A school district or an accredited nonpublic school, upon notification by an agency of the state that a child adjudicated under chapter 232 or in foster care is transferring enrollment from the school district or accredited nonpublic school to another school district or accredited nonpublic school, shall promptly provide for the transfer of all of the educational records of the child not later than five school days after receiving the notification.

2009 Acts, ch 120, §5; 2014 Acts, ch 1091, §2