Eight percent of all San Benito High School students are truant,
according to Principal Debbie Padilla
– a costly figure for both students’ education and the
district’s pocketbook.
Hollister – Eight percent of all San Benito High School students are truant, according to Principal Debbie Padilla – a costly figure for both students’ education and the district’s pocketbook.
“There are obvious consequences for the students,” she said. “If they’re not here, they will not be successful in school.”
Truant students incur a more tangible cost to the district, as well. SBHS receives funding from the state for every day a student attends class. Assuming a student attended every class all 180 days school is in session, the district could receive $6,048.37 for that student – or about $33.60 every day. As of Oct. 2, 922 students were enrolled at SBHS, but due to truancy the district did not receive funding for 100 of those students – approximately $600,000 the high school is missing out on.
A truant student is one who is chronically absent – three full-day unexcused absences constitutes truancy, as defined by SBHS. Most California high schools have similar, if not identical truancy definitions, said Padilla. While exact numbers were unavailable, Padilla estimated that SBHS’ truancy rate has remained fairly constant over the past several years.
After a letter home notifying parents of a student’s attendance problem, truant students and their parents are required to sign an attendance contract with the district. While the contract is mandatory, the terms of the agreement vary for each family.
“The contract is really about helping students and parents figure out the real issue: Why aren’t they going to school and what can we do about it?” said Padilla. “We might ask parents to monitor their child’s attendance, or have the student check in with us every morning. Sometimes we have parents escort their children to class.”
After six unexcused absences, the student is referred to the District Attorney’s office, which also handles truancy cases for the Hollister School District. Parents of truant students may face six months in jail or a $1,000 fine if they cannot solve the problem.
“Ultimately, it’s the parents’ responsibility to get their kids to school,” said Padilla.
Truant students are not only jeopardizing their own education, but that of their peers, said Padilla.
“When they do come back into the classroom, it’s very distracting for the other students,” she said. “The teacher has to get the student on board, and that takes valuable teaching time away from everyone else. And truant students seem to encourage others to skip class, as well.”
“Missing school does not benefit any student,” said Jim Koenig, SBHS’ Director of Finance and Operations. “But it’s a real penalty to the district.”
Most of the money SBHS receives from student attendance, Koenig said, goes toward teacher salaries, books and school supplies for students, and keeping the campus clean and in working order.
“If we had an additional $600,000, or even $300,000, we could have smaller class sizes and newer books for our students,” he said. “When you have the money, your problems suddenly look a lot more solvable.”
School Resource Officer Rich Brown says that he catches an average of five to 10 truant students every week, with the help of local police patrols.
“It’s definitely one of my priorities,” he said. “If a student becomes truant, it gives him opportunities to do things that cross into criminality.”
Brown says that SBHS’ unusual schedule, with some students starting their day at 7:45am and others at 8:45am, can make spotting truants difficult early in the day. While the district acknowledges the possibility that students may skip school because they feel threatened, Brown says he has yet to deal with a case like that.
“The excuses vary,” he said. “Sometimes a kid is dealing with a problem at home, but most of the time it’s very trite – either they don’t feel like it or they don’t like the food at school.”
