Effective April 2019, new legislation requires Ohio school attendance officers to modify the steps they take to notify parents when a child is absent. The law was passed following the tragic death of Alianna DeFreeze, a fourteen-year old Cleveland student.

The “Alianna Alert” law creates a new requirement that public schools make at least one attempt to notify parents/guardians/caretakers within two hours (120 minutes) after the beginning of each school day when their child is absent without legitimate excuse.

The school district attendance officer or his/her assistant or designee must use one of the following methods to contact the student’s parents/guardians/caretakers:

(1) An actual telephone call;

(2) An automated telephone call via a system that includes verification that each call was actually placed, and either the call was answered by its intended recipient or a voicemail was left by the automated system relaying the required information;

(3) A notification sent through the school's automated student information system;

(4) A text message;

(5) An email;

(6) An actual visit to the student's residence; or

(7) Any other method adopted by resolution of the school board.

If the parents/guardians/caretakers contact the school about the student’s excused or unexcused absence within the first 120 minutes of the school day, the district does not need to follow the contact rules above.

These new rules do not apply to students who are home schooled, enrolled in online courses, or enrolled in internet- or community-based instruction. It also does not apply to students not expected to be in attendance due to the student’s participation in off-campus activities, such as the College Credit Plus program.

The law does not repeal the current statute (O.R.C. 3313.205) that requires a board of education to adopt a written policy regarding notifying a student’s parents within a “reasonable time” when the student is absent. But the law clarifies that the “reasonable time” requirement in that prior statute now means within 120 minutes of the start of the school day for an unexcused absence.

An immunity provision is also included, providing that a school district or any officer, director, employee, or member of the school district board of education is not liable in damages in a civil action for injury, death, or loss to person or property arising from an employee’s action or inaction in good faith compliance with the notification requirements.