Truancy

After decades of boasting the world's most studious youngsters, Japan's schools reported a record number of truants in the school year that ended March 31, a new survey has found. The Education Ministry said about 139,000 elementary and junior high school students did not attend classes for at least 30 consecutive days. That was a more than 3% increase from the 2000-01 academic year.

While parents and community forces have made important contributions to the truancy problem (Times, Nov. 2), it's the schools that--aside from the minor issue of providing an oft unrewarding general education experience--bear the major responsibility for today's truancy problems. My own direct experience covers a variety of school districts. I learned that schools gave scant attention to attendance other than at the class period when attendance was counted for ADA funds, and that attention might not last through the entire period.

Santa Clarita city officials and county sheriff's deputies hope a new city ordinance designed to cut down on truancy has an additional payoff--reducing the increasing number of daytime burglaries. Statistics have not been calculated, but there is evidence that many daytime burglaries are committed by truant students, said sheriff's Sgt. Lee White.

The Manhattan Beach City Council passed an ordinance last week that allows police officers to cite students under 18 who are cutting class from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The new law goes into effect July 4. Manhattan Beach is following Redondo Beach, Torrance, Gardena and Hawthorne, which have had similar laws for years. Manhattan Beach police were afraid that students from other South Bay cities would flock to their town as a haven from the truancy laws in surrounding cities.

City attorneys expanded a 5-year-old anti-truancy program Wednesday, adding 16 elementary school campuses to the existing 30-school initiative. To date, the program has counseled about 25,000 families of students at Los Angeles Unified School District middle schools who were at risk of dropping out, officials said. In each case the student was frequently or chronically absent, or exhibited social and academic difficulties. Under the initiative, attorneys are authorized to file misdemeanor charges against parents of students who fail to improve their attendance.

A truancy ordinance similar to one used by the city of Los Angeles is being considered by Westlake Village. Following a Public Safety Committee meeting in Westlake Village Monday, city officials said the idea of ticketing students found off campus with no valid reason during school hours is interesting, but the need for it should be studied more closely. "In our area, we don't know whether we have a problem," said Councilman Jim Henderson.

Police chiefs and school officials announced Wednesday that they will push for a countywide daytime curfew ordinance to curb truancy. The measure will be drafted by a coalition made up of the county's Chiefs of Police and Sheriff's Assn., other law enforcement agencies and 28 school superintendents. It has not been decided what penalties the ordinance would entail or how it would be enforced. The ordinance would target the county's 460,000 students age 5 to 17.

When the school district's 21,600 students return to school in September, teachers expect to see each and every one of them in class. Most Irvine Unified School District teachers will not be disappointed. District officials reported this week that unexcused absences averaged less than 1% last school year. The 0.71% rate of unexcused absences works out to an average of five absences per day for each of the district's 28 schools in grades kindergarten through high school.

Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo announced Thursday that his office would continue an anti-truancy, anti-gang program aimed at middle school students. Operation Bright Future teaches parents about their legal responsibility to send their children to school and warns that parents whose children are excessively absent could face misdemeanor charges. The attendance rate for students enrolled in the program increased by 3.4% last year, officials said.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office charged a Downey woman Tuesday with contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allowing her 12-year-old son to skip his sixth grade classes. Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Higgins said it is the first time the criminal charge has been filed in a truancy case. Leticia Delava faces a year in jail and a $2,500 fine if she is convicted.