Anaheim School District Hands Out GPS Units To Habitually Truant Students

The Orange County Register reports that Anaheim-area schools in California are testing out a new method to keep kids from skipping school: GPS tracking.

After a rise in truancy, school officials decided to go high-tech with their efforts. Kristen Levitin, principal of Dale Junior High School, told the Register that officials have exhausted other tactics.

"This is their last chance at an intervention. Anything that can help these kids get to class is a good thing."

The device prompts students to check-in via text message five times a day. KTVQ reports that the last check-in time is at 8 p.m.

Rick Martens, Anaheim's director of safe schools, told CBS that the GPS unit will fact-check the student's text.

"So if the kid does text and say, 'I'm here, I'm at school,' but the GPS shows that they're somewhere else, it obviously gives us some indicators that the student is not where he should be, and so we know to go look for them."

Currently, the pilot program has given out devices to 75 students who have had four or more unexcused absences.

AIM Truancy Solutions is currently working with the school to oversee the program. Miller Sylvan, regional director of AIM, told the Register in an separate interview that the units would not be physically attached to the children.

"We don't want to criminalize the kids or have them wear any bracelet or something around their ankle that would stigmatize them. The students are frequently entering a code and interacting with the device, so we think it's the best way to let them carry it."

Other schools across the nation have participated in similar programs and saw measurable success, however, parents have expressed concern over the tactic. Raphael Garcia, a parent of a sixth grader with six unexcused absences, told the Register that he didn't like the connotations.

"I feel like they come at us too hard, and making kids carry around something that tracks them seems extreme. This makes us seem like common criminals."

Comments

[JStading]

08:51 PM on 02/23/2011

This sure is way simpler than just offering a relevant curriculum....

[AleMaker]

03:43 PM on 02/22/2011

The last check-in time is 8:00pm? Why would a student need to check in at 8:00pm? Do schools run that late in some places?

[fromthatshow]

01:15 PM on 02/22/2011

I wouldn't let my kid use that.

[rowdiman]

09:02 PM on 02/21/2011

Who is paying for this?

How are kids ever going to learn discipline and responsibility? Their employers will not be using GPS when and if they get jobs.

[Miss Ann Thrope]

10:49 PM on 02/24/2011

Funny, my first thought was "If this works for these schools, I would not be surprised if corporations follow suit." If this generation gets used to this as children, they'll be far more likely to accept the same in order to get a paying job.

[rowdiman]

11:23 PM on 02/24/2011

We buy everything else from China, looks like we are on our way to being controlled like them? I draw the line at Micro-Chipping!

[ramal]

08:43 PM on 02/21/2011

The best truancy prevention device: two, good, authoritarian parents who have an ongoing interest in their child.

[fromthatshow]

01:16 PM on 02/22/2011

Authoritarian parents are what most certainly led me to rebel and skip class constantly. Although I still got fairly good grades just from being smart. But yeah, rigidity never changes a kid, it just makes him less honest with his parents about what he's actually doing.

[ramal]

03:27 PM on 02/25/2011

Hopefully, you have grown out of all that. There is a difference between stark rigidity and making and enforcing rules.

[sensimilla]

02:52 PM on 02/25/2011

"two, good, authoritar­ian parents"

Don't you mean two good caring, loving parents?

[ramal]

03:26 PM on 02/25/2011

Thank you for your correction. I do indeed. Although I know quite a few good, caring and loving parents who maintain little or no discipline over their child or children. One is not mutually exclusive of the other.

[Nicole Dixson]

06:51 PM on 02/21/2011

Respect and fear. The two things that kept me from ditching school.

[Miss Ann Thrope]

10:50 PM on 02/24/2011

Interesting. I consider respect and fear to be two very opposite things.

[Nicole Dixson]

11:27 PM on 02/24/2011

Well, I don't. They both have their place.

[PirateJohn]

12:40 AM on 02/25/2011

I don't see why you would. Fear doesn't mean being *constantly* afraid. It means you don't want to step wrong because you know there are negative repercussions.

It's one of many steps in the learning process that leads to doing what's right regardless of negative consequences.

[eric14]

05:24 PM on 02/21/2011

Tech solutions to social problems are, now what's the expression, oh yes, totally pathetic.

[Michelle Ball]

05:14 PM on 02/21/2011

This is taking it just a bit too far. Truancy boards impose many many restrictions on students. This is because if the students do not attend school, the schools lose money. However, agreeing to be gps'd seems a bit extreme and as other posters noted, the kid could have a friend hold the device for them at school if they want to get around this. How about we improve the education system to serve all types of students, whether they can attend or not? They could attend from home via computer, for example, or even simple independent study and turn in work to prove they are paying attention. I know some kids won't even do that, but we need to fix the system so all different types of students may be served.

Best of luck,
Michelle Ball
Law Office of Michelle Ball
California Education Attorney advocating for the rights of parents and students since 1995.
Website: http://www.edlaw4students.com
Blog: http://edlaw4students.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/michelleaball

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THIS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE NOR FORM AN ATTORNEY CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.

[eric14]

05:29 PM on 02/21/2011

Try empowering your students, democratizing schools and cease pretending that the compliance system can be patched up. It is crumbling around you.

Time to move to consent systems.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT WOULD BE REAL CONSENT SYSTEMS
BASED UPON FULL INSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRATIZATION
AND NOT THE PHONY JUNK THAT'S PASSED AROUND AS EMPOWERMENT
BY JADED PROGRESSIVES WHO STILL BELIEVE IN TOP-DOWN REFORMISM.

[raechel]

04:53 PM on 02/21/2011

This seems silly to me. And as someone else pointed out, easy to circumvent. Just another way for kids to laugh at adults and play the us-against-them game. All I can imagine is that someone got a grant and wanted to play with GPS units.

[mansterEZ]

04:27 PM on 02/21/2011

I live in Anaheim and the story neglected to mention the parent(s) must also agree to have their kid monitored. This is just another voluntary relinquishment of freedom. The Anaheim Union school district is also more than 60% hispanic and most of these students are anchor kids. The parents work all the time just to keep a roof over their head leaving the kids to resort to the best means available to fill the void. Gangs are 'super prevalent' in Anaheim including the most affluent areas.

[cresudek]

04:08 PM on 02/21/2011

Ridiculous and should be illegal.

Truly unbelievable. How can they get away with such actions?

[sensimilla]

02:55 PM on 02/25/2011

why is this ridiculous, as they've already tried other tactics?

I guess your right, they should just kick them out of school and be done with it right?

Parents must buy into this process, and kids effectively have no rights. So..whats a better choice?

[cresudek]

03:15 PM on 02/25/2011

I guess you'd be fine with putting chips inside them so the schools can track them while they are supposed to be in school and then outside of school to see if they go to "bad" places.

How is GPS tracking a good idea?

Maybe they should find the cause of why they miss school. How will this help?

What if the kid does skip school and they know where the student is due to the GPS, should they send the police out to get the kid and bring them to school?

What's next? Putting a cop with each student to make sure they attend and don't leave the building?

[Forester]

04:04 PM on 02/21/2011

Ah, the 76CSx , a fine unit, and it floats too!

[oldgeek1]

03:55 PM on 02/21/2011

I suspect they will have a harder time finding the parents.

[SocialistCanadian]

03:36 PM on 02/21/2011

If the kids don't want to be there then cut them loose, let them work for Starbucks or another crummy retail job. Reallocate the resources to students who actually want a future, the rest can join the Tea Party.

[Insanity rules]

04:03 PM on 02/21/2011

I agree, however, since a lot of Tea Party activist have actually read the constitution the kids will probably become left wing socialist anarchist who think they "deserve" to have what I have without working for it, and take it by force.

[SocialistCanadian]

04:40 PM on 02/21/2011

They have READ it but should have stayed in school maybe they would UNDERSTAND it

[sensimilla]

02:56 PM on 02/25/2011

no much more likely is they will become a low information, ignorant voter, ie teaparty or rethuglican.

[lrobb]

03:27 PM on 02/21/2011

In point of fact, the school knows where the GPS unit is at a given point in time not where the student is. Unliss you microchip the kid, they will find a way around the technology--as in give it to a friend to check in for them.

The answer to kids going walkabout is hauling the parent into court and requiring them to shadow their children at school for a few days.

[Insanity rules]

04:05 PM on 02/21/2011

No mandatory education. When the poor see they can go to school and get out of their mess, they'll pick them selves up like the immigrants do and go to school to learn. The big problem is what they need to learn is determined by a bunch of people who don't have any idea what these kids need for education.

[lrobb]

04:51 PM on 02/21/2011

For those of you who are younger than 50, there was a time when all schools had a "truant officer." This individual was tasked with the job of notifying the parents of kids who did not show up for school or ditched a class.

If the student was "habitually truant" the parent was required to either come to school with the child for an entire month, or send an authorized representative to do so.

Those children who really did not want to continue their formal education were sent to "trade school."

This was back in the day when everyone was expected to be self-supporting. We have mandatory education for a reason. Ideally we would never let a student drop out until they acquired the skills necessary to be self supporting for the rest of their lives.

Bring back trade schools. Contrary to what the President believes, not every child should be college bound.