48205.

 (a) Notwithstanding Section 48200, a pupil shall be excused from school when the absence is:

(1) Due to his or her illness.

(2) Due to quarantine under the direction of a county or city health officer.

(3) For the purpose of having medical, dental, optometrical, or chiropractic services rendered.

(4) For the purpose of attending the funeral services of a member of his or her immediate family, so long as the absence is not more than one day if the service is conducted in California and not more than three days if the service is conducted outside California.

(5) For the purpose of jury duty in the manner provided for by law.

(6) Due to the illness or medical appointment during school hours of a child of whom the pupil is the custodial parent.

(7) For justifiable personal reasons, including, but not limited to, an appearance in court, attendance at a funeral service, observance of a holiday or ceremony of his or her religion, attendance at religious retreats, attendance at an employment conference, or attendance at an educational conference on the legislative or judicial process offered by a nonprofit organization when the absence of the pupil is requested in writing by the parent or guardian and approved by the principal or a designated representative pursuant to uniform standards established by the governing board of the school district.

(8) For the purpose of serving as a member of a precinct board for an election pursuant to Section 12302 of the Elections Code or engaging in other leadership or civic engagement activities that satisfy the criteria established by the Superintendent pursuant to subdivision (e).

(b) A pupil absent from school under this section shall be allowed to complete all assignments and tests missed during the absence that can be reasonably provided and, upon satisfactory completion within a reasonable period of time, shall be given full credit for the assignments and tests. The teacher of the class from which a pupil is absent shall determine which tests and assignments shall be reasonably equivalent to, but not necessarily identical to, the tests and assignments that the pupil missed during the absence.

(c) For purposes of this section, attendance at religious retreats shall not exceed four hours per semester.

(d) Absences pursuant to this section are deemed to be absences in computing average daily attendance and shall not generate state apportionment payments, unless an absence satisfies the criteria established by the Superintendent pursuant to subdivision (e)..

(e) By February 1, 2009, the Superintendent shall appoint a workgroup to develop the criteria and definitions to be provided to school districts to guide them in determining activities that constitute eligible leadership and civic engagement activities pursuant to paragraph (8) of subdivision (a). Within 90 days of being appointed, the workgroup shall complete this work. The workgroup may include members of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, school district principals, and pupils. The workgroup shall include pupils, teachers, school district principals, school district superintendents or county superintendents of schools, representatives from nonprofit youth leadership organizations, and representatives from the Department of Finance. The Superintendent shall prepare and disseminate a letter containing information developed by the workgroup to all school districts. The letter shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(1) Leadership shall be defined as “a process of giving meaningful direction to a collective effort to be expended to achieve a purpose.” Civic engagement shall be defined as “a process that means “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.” Civic engagement means “a process that involves individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern.”

(2) Activities that are similar to the following shall be considered as eligible leadership and civic engagement activities: community improvement, youth in government, improving educational quality, involvement in educational policy, appearing before government bodies, service learning that results in a community benefit, and participating in prevention and intervention programs. bodies, and service learning that results in a community benefit.

(3) If the academic performance of a pupil is marginal, the site administrator may deny the pupil the opportunity to participate in an otherwise eligible leadership or civic engagement activity if that activity will cause the pupil to miss more than one day of scheduled classes..

(4) A site administrator or designated certificated employee may require documentation of a pupil’s leadership or civic engagement activity, or may require the participating pupil to bring those skills and that experience to a larger group of pupils at his or her school.

(f) “Immediate family,” as used in this section, has the same meaning as that set forth in Section 45194, except that references in that section to “employee” shall be deemed to be references to “pupil.”