Posted on 07/05/2005 12:51:18 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Bill and Rebecca Hardin sat in a Cypresswood court recently, waiting to find out whether they would be fined as much as $500 each because their son was allegedly truant from school.
On the same day, a 17-year-old Spring High student was hauled off to the county jail for at least a day for failing to honor a contractual promise to attend school.
And some students who played hooky during the school year are spending days of summer vacation washing school buses under court order.
The youths and their parents have been landing before judges as part of an anti-truancy program run by the Harris County District Attorney's Office in four justice of the peace courts. The program relies on early intervention, tough love and scaring-families-straight techniques.
After a student has three unexcused absences, the district attorney's office sends a letter warning the child and parents that they will face criminal charges and fines up to $500 each if the child has three more unexcused absences.
During the past two school years, the district attorney's office has sent out more than 15,800 warning letters to parents and children in nine area school districts.
If the warning goes unheeded, another is sent notifying the student that he or she has been charged with truancy and the parents that they have been charged with contributing to non-attendance at school, both Class C misdemeanors.
School officials say anecdotal evidence and limited early statistics indicate that the program is working. Prosecutors can get the attention of kids and parents when school officials can't, said Juan Lumbreras, attendance specialist for the southeast region of the Houston Independent School District.
"The program's been real positive. It helps make students and parents aware," he said. "We get tired of repeating ourselves."
'Been very successful' The district attorney's office runs the program in JP courts in Pasadena, Clear Lake, Sagemont in southeast Houston and on Cypresswood in northwest Harris County.
School districts participating are Pasadena, Clear Creek, Waller, Tomball, Spring, Aldine and La Porte. HISD's southeast region, which includes Milby and Chavez high schools, and part of the Cy-Fair district also participate.
"It's a great program. The whole idea is to expedite the process and get the kids back in school," said County Judge Robert Eckels. "It's been very successful in changing the habits of kids heading down the path of truancy."
In the past, schools would send out letters or make calls to homes about a child's non-attendance. Typically, only after a student had accrued dozens of absences would a prosecutor become involved and bring a charge.
"You'd see a case in April for 45 absences in fall semester," said Bill Hawkins, chief of the district attorney's juvenile division. By then, he said, it might be too late for the student to salvage anything from the school year.
During the school year that just ended, the district attorney's office sent out 11,910 letters to parents whose children had three unexcused absences.
Hawkins said that only 20 percent of the students who received warning letters cut school three more times.
Parents of those who do face a shock.
Bill Hardin was stunned when he received a letter informing him that he had been charged.
"At first, I couldn't believe it," said Hardin after a hearing on the family's cases in June. "They said I was contributing to the delinquency of a minor. But I was sending him to school."
Hardin said his son earns good grades at Spring High, but had skipped school several times to go fishing.
Parents are responsible Some parents said it is unfair of judges to hold parents accountable for making sure wayward, disobedient children don't skip classes.
Ernest Townsel said his ex-wife, Vonda Hill, tries to make sure their daughter, 16, goes to Westfield High, and their daughter, whose truancy case has landed before Judge J. Kent Adams, assures them that she is attending.
Hill is a busy single mother who has to rely on what her daughter tells her, Townsel said in an interview, and the daughter isn't always truthful about her attendance.
He asked the judge to give his daughter the shock treatment of a day in jail, but the judge declined, instead fining Hill $200.
Court officials argue that however difficult, parents are responsible for their minor children. Even after truancy charges are filed, prosecutors work to avoid trials and criminal convictions.
When youths and parents arrive at court, prosecutors try to convince them to agree to a contract stipulating that the students will attend class for six months without any unexcused absences.
Prosecutors coordinate with social workers and counselors to address family, economic or substance abuse problems that may cause a student to play hooky. A condition that a student attend counseling often is added to a contract.
The contracts usually require students to perform community service. At the Cypresswood court, Adams' concept of community service is hardly undemanding: about 20 to 40 hours cleaning school buses.
Parents often are required to take parenting classes.
Sent to lockup By signing the contract, students admit that they were criminally truant and parents admit that they contributed to their child's non-attendance. But the charges are dismissed if the child and parents fulfill the contract's conditions.
Judges can be tough on those who do not comply with contracts. Students who continue to skip school are brought into court on contempt charges. Brought in a second time, some judges send them to lockups.
In February, a 17-year-old girl from Spring High was brought into court after missing school 26 times, Assistant District Attorney Michael Moore said. She signed a contract saying she would not miss school during the next six months, but skipped school 38 more times.
At a recent hearing in Cypresswood, Adams found her in contempt of court for failing to live up to the contract.
He fined her $505. When she said she didn't have the money, she was handcuffed and taken to adult jail as other youths looked on.
Her mother, in court on a contempt charge for failing to see that her daughter abided by the contract, also was fined $505.
"Isn't this about the most ridiculous thing you have heard — we have to put your child in jail for failure to go to school?" Adams said.
Those under age 17 are sent to the county juvenile detention center — the fate of 40 youths so far this year, Hawkins said.
When youths age 17 and 18 are found in contempt and cannot pay the $500 fines often imposed on them, they are sent to the county jails for adults for a day or two. No statistics were available on how many were sent to adult jails.
The district attorney's office has decided to be tough on truancy because it is a "gateway" activity that can lead to drug use, minor crimes and, ultimately, more serious crimes, Hawkins said.
Adams said he supports the program because youths who don't finish high school face diminished prospects.
Other areas are running similar programs. In Forth Worth, a municipal court has been set aside to hear only truancy cases.
The Fort Worth program, like the one in Harris County, emphasizes quick intervention and the potential imposition of fines.
The program has helped push average daily attendance in the Forth Worth Independent School District, which serves about 80,000 students, from 93.8 percent in 2002-2003 to 94.9 percent this school year, said Delena Doyle, the district's assistant director of student affairs.
Affects bottom line Such an increase means more money in a school district's coffers. State aid to schools is based in part on average daily attendance. Fort Worth's 1 percent increase in average daily attendance brought $4 million more to the district this year, Doyle said.
In Harris County, the ability of the district attorney's program to increase state aid hasn't gone unnoticed by some local school districts, said Moore, one of two prosecutors assigned to the program.
"The school districts talk a lot about the average daily attendance money," he said.
bill.murphy@chron.com
Why indeed!I substitute teach in a large urban district and can tell you that LOTS of these kids who are of high school age should be in some vocational program or apprenticeship,not being made to take Advanced Algebra and Chemistry which are courses way over their heads and they then become classroom discipline problems.
ELEMENTARY school is a different arena.Parents should get consequences for letting this age group slide in coming to school.
My policy is that if you don't want to exert your brain and be a co-operative and positive influence in my class,then cut to your hearts content,baby!Its your life.
Whoops. Not my best topic.
You do seem to know a lot about a lot of topics though.
I'm wishing, not observing reality, unfortunately. If I were Emperor...
The guy needs to understand, it's not about truancy, it's about funding a new bureaucracy for the DA
But the "parenting teacher" was a liberal--haven't you learned they just KNOW more than anyone else? Sheesh! ;)
Nothing to see here, folks. Just some dumb grunt, falling out of airplanes.
I actually fell out of an airplane, once - never laughed so hard in my life.
I'm wishing, not observing reality, unfortunately. If I were Emperor...
Just don't be the naked one.
Perfect way for a teen to get back at a parent who is just trying to be a good parent and set standards - get the parent in trouble. The schools should accept their share of responsibility and act in partnership with parents to make sure that students get to school and then stay there.
Well then, the schools should knuckle down and make sure that, once students arive at school and are signed in on the attendace roll, that they stay at school! That's the school's responsibility and its part of the bargain. They are trying to sluff it off.
Yep. But today's parents have all the responsibility and have been stripped by law of all their authority.
All parents have authority. Granted DCFS can be harsh, but every parent has the authority and PRIVILEGE to raise kids and they will be the main influence one way or the other on them.
What you said just triggered something in me.
My brain (and mouth) have two modes: English and Not English. Not English is occupied by Spanish. Everything Not English I say comes out Spanish-sounding. Even French.
My brain and mouth have two nodes too. One is dumb and the other is dumber. Interesting though:).
Take it from me-there is nothing more disruptive than security bringing a recalcitrant teenager into your classroom who has spent most of lunch hour smoking a joint and has absolutely NO school related materials in his possesion.
Recipe for disaster!
SORRRY!!! I misunderstood you a little. I agree with all your points here. You seem to be a good parent based on your last statement. Yes, I have seen examples of where the kids used the system to manipulate things. This one girl accused my uncle of molesting her (and her druggie mom pressed charges) which turned out to be absolutely false. He lost his job and nearly his reputation. It divided the town like nothing before or since too. I have seen other examples of parents being accused of things they didn't do too. One of my former students a THIRD grader decided she didn't want to clean her room and so she took off out her bedroom window. She went over to a neighbor's house and told them that her mom and dad hadn't been treating her right. The neighbors called the police and the parents had to go through all sorts of heck to make a long story short.
Please understand that it's hard when I see people complain about raising kids or making excuses not to (not that I exactly thought that). It's what I want most to have the opportunity to do in the world (for 11 years and counting--other options aren't available for now) and I think it is the most wonderful privilege anyone could have, albeit difficult.
***Good comment. We have been discussing inexpensive ways to fast track kids through high school to avoid the liberal agenda and other idiocies:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315730/posts?page=84#84
Unfortunately my thread title was not well thought out, because some parents might instinctively skip over it due to attached stigma, whether real or imagined.
Thank you for the article and LINK to extremeintellect.com.
It is a great site!
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