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Students Missing in Action: Federal Rules Force Schools to Target Truancy

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 May 2006, 12:07 CDT

By Beverly A. Carroll, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

May 10--About a quarter of Hamilton County students have missed 10 or more days of school so far this year, school records show.

"It's a horrendous issue for schools," East Lake Academy principal Wendy Jung said. "We are going to be marked as low performing again, and a good portion of that is our truancy."

Poor attendance rates could result in federal officials' designating a school as low performing under the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Under the law, school districts are responsible for meeting attendance benchmarks as well as academic goals.

Since 2003, the Hamilton County Schools district has missed the attendance benchmark for high schools, reporting an attendance rate of 91 percent to 92 percent, below the state goal of 93 percent.

The district has met the 93 percent goal in elementary schools for the same period. But a recent report shows that many schools are struggling with student attendance.

So far this year, 10,153 Hamilton County students out of about 40,000 have missed 10 or more days of school, according to Hamilton County Schools records.

Seventeen schools reported 30 percent to 40 percent of their students missing 10 or more days so far this year, records show.

State law defines truancy as five or more unexcused absences, but the state has not collected truancy data until this year, Tennessee Department of Education spokeswoman Rachel Woods said.

The school district tracks attendance but not truancy, Assistant Superintendent Fred Carr said.

"When a chair is empty, whether it's excused or unexcused, there is no learning going on," said Judy Barker, the district's lead school social worker.

Superintendent Jesse Register said schools officials are trying to find solutions to the problem.

"Schools have incentive programs and automatic call machines, and principals and staff do a lot to try to contact parents," Dr. Register said. "In a system this size with the number of social workers we have, there is not enough infrastructure to be aggressive on truancy." QUESTIONS OF POLICY Truancy is a community issue, said Gary Ball, head of the Ridgedale Neighborhood Association.

He said the group has met with school officials several times, but nothing has come of it.

"It's still a parental problem," he said. "But it also boils down to policy. From Juvenile Court to the school board, nobody is willing to tighten the belt. Everybody says they will look into it, and nobody ever gets back (to the association)."

Truancy in Hamilton County's 79 schools is handled by 16 social workers who investigate why students miss school, Mrs. Barker said.

Social worker Vickie Spangler said they call or visit a child's home to determine if the family needs help. Sometimes the parent doesn't know the child skipped school, she said.

"Sometimes it is something like the parent is sick and the child is the only one who can stay home," Ms. Spangler said. "Sometimes it's because they don't have uniforms or a ride to school."

When a child accumulates 10 or more unexcused absences, school social workers may file a petition with Hamilton County Juvenile Court if other interventions have failed. Officials do not file petitions on all truant students because some cases are solved before reaching court. Often court officials hold an informal hearing as the first step and can solve the problem, schools officials said.

"The Juvenile Court views truancy as five or more unexcused absences," Mr. Carr said. "But in truth we don't get around to filing (petitions) until they have missed about 20 or 30 because we are so overwhelmed."

Students' parents may be fined up to $50 or the court can order a child to perform community service for truancy violations. The school district has a policy that a student's grade will drop to a 69 if she or he has five unexcused absences.

School board member Rhonda Thurman has suggested holding truancy court in schools.

Juvenile Court Judge Suzanne Bailey said she is interested in more conversation about the idea.

"I would need to see what kind of model is proposed and how to support it without running afoul of the (confidentiality ) law," Judge Bailey said. "I agree with doing whatever you can do to swiftly get their attention and get the parents involved. By the time we get some of them in here, they have missed 40 or more days, and for all practical purposes they are failing." SOME SUCCESSES Board of Education member Debbie Colburn said a lack of money and personnel has made it difficult to deal with the truancy problem.

A pilot program proposed in 2002 would have allowed police officers to take truant children to a holding facility until their parents could get them. But the program never began because of budget cuts, Mrs. Colburn said.

Still, the district has recorded some successes in the fight against truancy, she said.

"When we first entered into this, we found that our data wasn't clean," Mrs. Colburn said. "Students would be absent and have excuses, but they would never get documented. We've made headway with that."

A partnership with the Chattanooga Housing Authority also has helped, she said.

The school notifies housing personnel when students who live in public housing are absent. Housing officials find out why children are absent and help if there is a problem. Residents may be evicted if they don't get their children back in school.

Jermaine Harper, CHA's chief of community development, said he is concerned that the program is too harsh.

"We recognize there are rules in place, but sometimes you have to recognize there are extenuating circumstances," Mr. Harper said.

Consultant John Norris, whom the district hired as part of a $219,000 state grant in 1999 to work with race relations, has worked with the safe schools program and urban school leaders over the past few years. A character education program, funded by private grants, has been in place since 1998. However, neither program deals directly with truancy.

In January, Associate Superintendent Ray Swafford used federal grant money to hire an attendance officer to investigate continued absences in a dozen urban schools.

"He works with the school's family engagement specialists, calling on parents for more than just truancy," Mr. Swafford said of the retired law enforcement officer.

Staff writer Yolanda Putman contributed to this story.

E-mail Beverly A. Carroll at bcarroll@timesfreepress.com

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Source: Chattanooga Times/Free Press

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