Truancy rules meant to help, not to punish

— Christie Rollins of Fayetteville was startled to receive a letter from her son’s school in November warning that she could be reported to a prosecuting attorney if her son missed too many days.

“I can’t tell you the shock that came over me,” she said. “I was so upset.”

Rollins’ 6-year-old son started kindergarten in August. He missed four days the second week of school because of pneumonia and bronchitis. Another boutof bronchitis and an ear infection kept the boy out of school for three more days in October.

The school sent a letter Nov. 9 stating the school would notify the Washington County prosecuting attorney’s office after 12 absences. Rollins feared that another illness would put her son over 12 absences before the end of the semester.

“I send doctor’s notes every time,” Rollins said. “I call them every time he’s sick. He’s never been tardy.”

The illnesses that first semester gave Rollins a quick introduction to Fayetteville School District’s policy on excessive absences. Districts across Northwest Arkansas have similar policies.

The state’s education code requires school districts to set a threshold for excessive absences -12 each semester in the Fayetteville School District - and to notify parents at the halfway point. The Fayetteville district’s letter to Rollins was required by law even though she’s unlikely to be prosecuted because she has kept the school informed about her son’s illnesses.

The law provides latitude when absences are unavoidable.

Many school district policies contain a clause like one found in Fayetteville’s student handbook: “It is the Arkansas General Assembly’s intention that students having excessive absences due to illness, accident or other unavoidable reason be given assistance in obtaining credit for their courses.”

Parents are taken to court for truancy only as a last step when all other attempts at correcting an attendance problem have failed, Fayetteville district officials said.

‘EXCUSED’ VS. ‘UNEXCUSED’

The education law regarding truancy no longer distinguishes between an excused and an unexcused absence because of Act 1223, passed in 2011, said Ron Harder, who drafts model policies based on state and federal laws for school districts for the Arkansas School Board Association.

“Now you just have an absence,” Harder said. “Now districts have to select a number of absences that triggers truancy. The requirement to report for truancy has been there for a long time.”

Districts by law must send notices to parents about the policy, Harder said.

“The goal of the bill was to try to get students into school,” Harder said. “You can’t educate a student who isn’t there.”

Situations arise that cause students to accumulate absences in excess of district policies, Harder said. When children have serious illnesses, such as cancer, or must be out of school on a regular basis because of braces, the law provides latitude for schools to work with parents without triggering a truancy case.

“You don’t want really sick children at school,” he said. “There needs to be some allowance to meet reality.”

Parents should not be prosecuted because of illnesses, doctors’ appointments or therapies that cause their children to miss school, said state Rep. James McLean, D-Batesville, who sponsored Act 1223 in 2011.The bill allows for parents to make arrangements with the school principal when absences are unavoidable.

“We didn’t want to penalize folks for legitimate reasons for being absent,” McLean said. “This is designed for parents who are not particularly interested in their children being in school.”

There were 13,149 truancy violations statewide, including 140 in the Fayetteville School District, in 2011-12, records from the Arkansas Department of Education show.

Truancy cases are prosecuted through “family in need of services” petitions under the state’s juvenile code. Such a petition is filed when a child is “habitually and without justification absent from school while subject to compulsory attendance,” according to Arkansas Code 9-27-303.

The passage of Act 1223 has generated lots of questions from prosecuting attorneys across the state, said Connie Hickman Tanner, director of the Juvenile Division Courts for the state Administrative Office of the Courts. Although the education law no longer categorizes absences as excused or unexcused, the juvenile code does.

School districts by policy can report children with excessive absences to the prosecuting attorney even if the absences accumulated because of illness, Hickman Tanner said. But the prosecuting attorneys have no recourse because the juvenile code says an illness is an excused absence.

“It has caused such havoc across the state,” she said.

Hickman Tanner advises prosecuting attorneys to filter out cases when absences would be considered excused, she said.

“You still don’t need to be bringing these parents in whose kids have a legitimate reason for being out of school,” she said.

LENGTHY PROCESS

Rollins praised her son’s school, Holcomb Elementary, for working with them. She said she learned her school had to send the letter because of the state law, even though she had notified them of her son’s illnesses and provided doctor’s notes.

For elementary students, the law is too strict, she said. “They’re going to get sick,” she said.

School principals in Fayetteville follow a lengthy process before reporting parents for truancy, said Ginny Wiseman, associate superintendent of administrative services for the district. They start with telephone calls, letters and parent conferences.

The school involves the juvenile court when a parent doesn’t cooperate and a child continues to be absent, said John L Colbert, associate superintendent for elementary education. A committee involving a counselor, principal and teacher will meet to discuss the reasons for a student’s absences and whether petitioning the court is necessary.

“We’re not out there to catch everybody,” he said.

When school principals and teachers know a child is ill, in the hospital or must be absent for another reason, they will allow the child to make up his work, Colbert said.

All school districts provide an avenue to accommodate families during an illness if the parent stays in contact with the school, said Leta Darling, juvenile prosecuting attorney for Washington County.

If parents cooperate with schools and keep them informed about illnesses, those situations typically don’t warrant taking action against a family for truancy through a “family in need of services” petition, Darling said.

More often, Darling pursues a case when a family needs services, such as help applying for state health insurance coverage for children or recommending parenting classes or anger management classes for parents.

“I just look on a case by case basis and see if there is a problem we can help a family with,” Darling said.

‘WE NEED YOU WELL’

Policies on excessive absences are similar across Northwest Arkansas, though some districts define excessive absences as eight per semester while others allowup to 14 days.

The Harrison School District policy says the district will notify the prosecuting attorney’s office after eight absences, Harrison Assistant Superintendent Shawn Halbrook said. Parents receive a warning by phone or mail after four absences.

Principals can hold off on notifying a prosecuting attorney when legitimate illnesses cause a child to exceed eight absences in a semester, and parents have kept them informed of the child’s condition, Halbrook said. Children should not be in school with a fever, when they are throwing up or have a bad cough.

“We don’t want kids coming to school when they feel awful,” he said. “We need you well.”

A handful of students accumulate excessive absences - defined as 14 absences in Springdale - every semester at Harvey Jones Elementary School in Springdale, Principal Melissa Fink said.

“If kids aren’t in school, they’re not learning,” Fink said.

In some cases, children miss school because of situations at home, Fink said. One family had become homeless, so the school arranged for transportation for the children to get to school. Another family needed an alarm clock.

Some families don’t make school a priority, she said. In most cases, the school staff tries to work with the families to alleviate obstacles that cause a child to miss school.

The school is able to resolve most situations before going to court , Fink said. Petitions are not filed for excessive absences when parents have a valid doctor’s note.

“When children are sick, we want them to follow the guidelines the doctor has told them,” Fink said.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 01/23/2013

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