County approves new truancy policy

today school. it covers practically every student in the county. abc-7’s andrew j. polk has the details. off the top :07 1:05 the county’s truancy policy has been in the works for some time, but just got final aprpoval from commissioners. “today, th county-wide plan follows the law, so that the school districts, all school districts in the charter or public schools, know what they are required to do in order to make sure a student makes it to school.” district attorney jaime esparza has been leading a taskforce to come up with the guidelines to comply with the new state law. the state now makes truancy violations a civil penalty, like a parking ticket, instead of a criminal penalty. the plan adopted by all local and charter school districts starts with sending a letter to a student after there are 3 unexcused absences, explaining the seriousness of the situation. and after 10 unexcused abscences, the school will start 45 day plan of working with students and families directly, to get the kids to school if the student is not back, the case goes to the district attorney instead of directly going before a justice of the peace … the d-a then decides the next best course of action – whether it’s other programs or legal consequences. “it’s a change in philosophy, and it’s a change in approach. instead of immediately criminalizing truancy, there will be an added step before it is criminalizing the truancy. that’s good for the parents, it’s good for the students, because they get far more involvement from the districts.” the goal, more students in class… fewer parents in jail. andrew j. polk, abc-7 the county will do a review of the numbers and results from the program in february… to see exactly how well it’s working or not. doppler dave is up next with his living