Hollister
– The district attorney’s office and local educators are hoping
to revive the Student Attendance Review Board in an effort to more
efficiently identify the cause of truancy in county schools.
Hollister – The district attorney’s office and local educators are hoping to revive the Student Attendance Review Board in an effort to more efficiently identify the cause of truancy in county schools.
The Student Attendance Review Board had been used in the past to review and attempt to solve student truancy, District Attorney Candice Hooper said. However, the board faded into the background when her predecessor, John Sarsfield, implemented a mediation program in which the district attorney’s office became directly involved, Hooper said.
Hooper believes the revival of the board will be a more effective way to work with parents and students to solve truancy issues, rather than resorting to legal action.
The board will be chaired by Mike Sanchez, the alternatives program director for the San Benito County Office of Education. Board members will include representatives from each school district, the district attorney’s office, the Hollister Police Department, the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office, the county mental health office, the probation department and the YMCA, said Omar Rodriguez, a third-year student at the University of California, Berkeley, law school who is organizing the board.
In the mediation program, letters were sent to the parents of truant students, Hooper said. If the problem continued, the parent would meet with a representative from the student’s school, a county representative and a representative from the district attorney’s office to sign a contract, she said. If the meeting was missed or the contract was breached or refused, the district attorney’s office would take legal action.
“There was no attempt to identify an issue and it was more punitive at an earlier stage,” Rodriguez said.
Under the board, a letter will be sent home after three unexcused absences, Rodriguez said. After six, a home visit will be conducted by the school and after nine the parents will be scheduled to meet with the board, he said.
Once the board gets involved, officials hope it will be able to provide a solution for the truancy problem.
Tim Foley, the San Benito County superintendent of schools, said that in some cases, especially with elementary school students, the truancy is a result of a hectic home life. And in those cases, the legal system may not solve the problem, he said.
“We want to keep it as close to the home as possible,” Foley said. “And as the case becomes increasingly complicated, we need a broader response.”
With the participation of other agencies, Hooper hopes the board will provide the necessary avenues for families to work with other social institutions to identify the problem.
If the board’s recommendation fails to solve the problem, only then will the district attorney’s office take any legal action, Hooper said.
Hooper hopes the revival of the board will prevent juvenile delinquency before it can bloom into an adult problem.
“Historically, the youth that I see in juvenile hall, the adults that I see who’ve worked their way up from juvenile court, have all had truancy problems,” Hooper said.
Rodriguez hopes to have the board in place and meeting by March.
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected].
