[Vision2020] Getting Tough on Truancy

Tom Hansen thansen at moscow.com
Sat Jul 28 07:54:28 PDT 2007


>From Today's (July 28, 2007) Moscow-Pullman Daily News -

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Getting tough on truancy

Moscow School District, Latah County Youth Services step up efforts to keep
students in school

By Kate Baldwin, Daily News staff writer 
July 28, 2007

Idaho school districts can refer truant students to their county
prosecutors' office for help, but the districts can't do anything to monitor
those who check out of the school system before they are referred to the
courts.

There is no legal oversight when that happens, so schools and youth service
organizations are trying to find new ways to keep students from slipping
through the cracks.

"I think we can be more proactive at dealing with truancy, and providing
services, and intervening with the family sooner," said Brian Dulin,
director of Latah County Youth Services. "I think we can prevent it from
becoming a bigger issue."

Many schools still require students to be in attendance 90 percent of the
time, but some districts have taken it a step further.

Under a new policy approved this week, Moscow School District students can
be referred to an in-school intervention program called "attendance court"
after any six absences, and students who accumulate four unexcused absences
can be referred to the Latah County Prosecutor's Office.

Other districts, like the Genesee School District, are trying to change
their policies so they can intervene when students hit just three unexcused
absences.

Dulin said the early approach can help catch students before they fall
behind academically or get caught in other negative cycles.

"By giving them additional support, I think we can motivate them and the
family to be successful," he said.

A referral to the prosecutor's office doesn't always bring a petition, or a
charge, against a student. Sometimes the cases can be resolved informally,
but if the issue can't be resolved, a student will appear in court. If found
guilty, the student will be placed on probation through Latah County Youth
Services, which could lead to wake-up calls and rides to school from a
probation officer - or possibly getting tagged with an electronic monitoring
device.

Moscow Junior High School Assistant Principal Kevin Hill said this can help
families because students can be "good-sized" by the time they reach junior
high and they need to get up and get ready by themselves.

"Parents can't force them to," he said.

Dulin said some families are resistant to having their children go through
the juvenile justice system. Others appreciate the help.

"Once they realize we are all on the same page in wanting what is best for
the kids, we are able to collaborate effectively," he said.

Still, truancy can put those same parents at risk of being charged with a
misdemeanor if they knowingly allow their children to miss school, so not
everyone chooses to stay in the system. Both Dulin and Hill have seen
parents pull their children from the education system before and after
referrals in order to try options like private school, home school, or other
public schools.

The problem is that students who leave the system for home school before
referral into the courts aren't subject to any monitoring or tracking of
progress because of Idaho's relaxed home-schooling laws.

State Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, taught for 38 years in Idaho and
Washington and remembers that students sometimes took advantage of the law
that allowed them to be home-schooled at will in one or more subjects.

"It wasn't something that happened a lot, but I remember some instances
where I'd be trying to work with someone to turn around their performance
and (the school) had a deadline after which students weren't allowed to drop
classes," she said. "After we passed that time, they'd simply come with a
note from home saying they'd be home schooled in that topic."

Ringo said one girl in her geometry class decided to try home schooling
after having trouble with the material.

"I asked her if she wanted to borrow the book, but she clearly didn't have
any idea why I was suggesting she might want the book," she said.

There is no way for school districts or youth services to make sure that
students who leave because of truancy or related academic problems are
making forward progress. Ringo said she has heard of parents "who keep their
kids at home because they need a baby sitter, they need someone to help with
the work, or reasons that are not really acceptable."

State Board of Education spokesman Mark Browning could not provide the
number of students in the state who are being home schooled for any or all
of their classes.

"That is a very good question and one that's difficult to put a number on,
the reason being that we don't have a good way to track them," he said. "We
know the number is growing, but we don't have a really accurate way to track
them."

State Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, tried to pass a bill that would require
parents to file an affidavit with their local school district if their child
was going to be home schooled. The bill also would have charged parents with
a misdemeanor if educational neglect was discovered.

Ringo said a huge resistance emerged among the state's home-school
advocates, which caused Stegner to drop the affidavit requirement from the
bill and change the misdemeanor clause so that educational neglect could
only apply to parents of children in public schools.

"It is an interesting dynamic," Ringo said. "The people I know that
home-school are really proud of the work they do and what their children
achieve. It seems they should be just as eager to do something about those
people who are not comparably educating their children, yet they seem to
prefer to be left alone on all accounts."

Barry Peters, the legal advisor for the Idaho Coalition of Home Educators,
did not return calls or e-mail requests for comment.

Dulin said he occasionally works with home-school families after they have
withdrawn their child from public schools because of truancy issues. His
office works with the family "to ensure that they are providing a comparable
curriculum and education and not just using that as an excuse for their kid
not to receive an education."

"I've seen both. I've seen families do a wonderful job home schooling their
kids and I've seen parents completely neglect educating their kids and
providing their children with an education," he said.

Dulin said these cases do happen but are not frequent, so "it's an important
issue but not a huge issue as far as numbers are concerned in Latah County."

Ringo doesn't want that fact to stop the discussion.

"Some people argue that it is only a handful of children, but it's not
acceptable to have even a few children that are not getting an education,"
she said.

Dulin agreed that some sort of tracking could help protect the minority,
while Hill just wishes he had a way to know that students who leave his
school are doing all right and finding success.

Ringo said she would like to see "a meeting of the minds on this issue."

"If it would be possible for us to meet together with both groups
(home-school advocates and youth services) and think of a way we can protect
the few and give the others the freedom they think they need, that would be
ideal," she said. "It's something we haven't been able to do so far and I
don't know that anybody has approached it that way."

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Thoughts?

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)





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