You miss school, you miss out.
Posters preaching this often-heard phrase cover classrooms and
offices at elementary, middle and high school campuses, but
sometimes, it’s the parents who are missing the message.
Over the past year, the County District Attorney’s Office has
been working with local school districts to decrease the number of
truant, or habitually absent, students. School attendance is
mandated by law, and extreme cases of truancy have resulted in
filing charges against parents.
You miss school, you miss out.
Posters preaching this often-heard phrase cover classrooms and offices at elementary, middle and high school campuses, but sometimes, it’s the parents who are missing the message.
Over the past year, the County District Attorney’s Office has been working with local school districts to decrease the number of truant, or habitually absent, students. School attendance is mandated by law, and extreme cases of truancy have resulted in filing charges against parents.
“People listen a lot more when law enforcement or the court system is involved,” said Connie Perales, at-risk advocate at the Hollister School District.
In the past, educators held mediation meetings with parents and officials with social services and the probation department as well as the school resource officer. These meetings had little impact since there was no enforcement or consequences, Perales said.
Since the new truancy program started at the HSD last spring, about 15 families have gone through mediation with the district. Charges were eventually filed against the parents in two of the cases.
One parent pleaded guilty and paid a fine less than $1,000. The other parent pleaded not guilty and will be going to trial, Perales said.
District Attorney John Sarsfield and Deputy District Attorney Denny Wei did not return numerous phone calls about the truancy program.
Other school districts in Santa Clara County utilize the District Attorney’s Office in truancy cases and have had huge success, Perales said. Most districts have seen more than 90 percent of their truant students return to school, she said.
Holding parents of elementary- and middle-school students responsible for absences is easier to do than at the high-school level when parents begin losing control or authority over their children, said Deborah Botts, chief probation officer with the County Probation Department.
In Perales’ experience, truancy spans the various grade levels – kindergarten has a really high absentee rate. Attendance within the district has improved by 1 percent since the District Attorney’s Office has been involved, Perales said.
Last year, a set of brothers missed almost 90 days of school – half of the school year, Perales said.
A family of four was missing school repeatedly, but the case worked out and the truancy abated. In two cases last year, the students missed so much school, they had to be held back a year, Perales said.
At the HSD, when a student is absent for three days, not necessarily consecutively, a letter is sent home. If truancy continues, a second letter goes home and one is sent to the District Attorney’s Office.
The District Attorney’s Office also sends the parents a letter. Step three includes a third letter sent home and the District Attorney’s Office schedules a mediation session with the parents and school officials.
The mediation is held at juvenile hall so parents can see where their children may end up if they do not go to school or get an education – so they see that it’s about their children, not them, Perales said.
At the mediation, the parents sign an attendance contract agreeing to get their children to school and on time.
It’s important for parents to realize the mediation is their last chance before the court system gets involved, Perales said. If truancy continues, the District Attorney’s Office presses charges against the parents.
“(Being habitually absent) carries on. By the time you add up all the missed school time and get to high school, you miss out on so much time,” Perales said. “It’s really about keeping the kids at school and getting them prepared so they can have success in life.”
In most cases, truancy leads to an early onset of juvenile crime, drug and alcohol abuse and sexual activity, Botts said.
“It’s what they’re doing with their time instead of going to school,” she said. “We’re trying to keep kids from getting into the criminal system.”
