Concord Schools: Students Will Be Fined For Skipping Class Under Daytime Curfew

Concord schools' message to students: stop skipping class or pay up.

Keeping kids off the streets and in class has become such a problem for police in the San Francisco suburb that students will be fined up to $500 for the third offense of missing class unexcused, $200 for the second and $100 for the first, KCBS reports. The Concord City Council voted in favor of the measure Tuesday night.

Concord police conduct truancy sweeps daily, averaging about a dozen netted students a day, according to the Contra Costa Times. Without a curfew ordinance, the most police can do when they find students hanging out when they should be in school is take them back.

But Mayor Laura Hoffmeister told KCBS that "often they're finding that the kid they return at 11 a.m. is back out at 12:30."

The new "daytime curfew" policy that KGO-TV reports could be in effect as early as this fall would help police as well as encourage students to keep learning. Parents who knowingly allow their children to skip class without a legitimate excuse would receive the same fine.

Education News writes that although parents appear to support the proposal, students are "vehemently opposed."

Exceptions to the rule apply for emergencies, students running errands for parents, on their way to work or if the student is with a parent.

Other cities in the Bay Area have reported reduced truancy with the onset of curfew ordinances, KGO-TV reports.

Comments

[armstrong st]

04:43 PM on 07/17/2011

Well, I think this going to work. How crazy a student should be to pay $500 for missing a class. Let's see how it goes...

Steve from essaytask.com

[John P Squibob]

09:58 AM on 07/16/2011

I don't see why the govt can't tie public assistance money to grades, your child fails you don't get your monthly check.

[dbrett480]

11:44 PM on 07/14/2011

I don't see why there is a debate. The kids won't pay any fines if they go to school.

[CaliforniaJane]

06:05 PM on 07/14/2011

Part of the problem is that schools waste so much time preparing these kids to pass a stupid test. For what? Most kids who are skipping school will not be going to college. The educational system has wasted so much time an money trying to force these kids to be a part of a system that does not apply to them. How about offering these kids a chance to learn a trade skill rather that wasting their time preparing for a test that will mean nothing to their future. We are a college obsessed society that tries to cram college down the throats of every kid. Not all kids are college material. We have abandoned the kids who would benefit from learning a skill that would forever improve there lives. We will always need plumbers, electricians, mechanics, chefs, landscapers, and contractors. If they had a really good reason to be in school they might actually show up.

[Kimberley Anne Thornton]

07:13 PM on 07/14/2011

As a high school special education teacher, I completely agree. The problem is that tax payers keep voting to cut school funds for these programs, and passing re-donkulous laws like NCLB, which place 100% of the school emphasis on pre-college academics, and therefore, leave a significant portion of our student population behind. Principals have to fight for the retention of electives such as autos, design, etc, on a day to day basis. Its ugly. And we expect students who are on the fringe to "want" to go to school to learn something that is completely irrelevant to their future if they want to become a plumber?! Come on, would YOU go to school if that were the case?

[CaliforniaJane]

05:54 PM on 07/14/2011

What makes them think that these inner city kids have $100, $200, or $500 to pay the fine? You can't get blood from a turnip. Seems like a pretty stupid idea to me. So what happens if they don't pay?

[smburwick]

03:32 PM on 07/14/2011

less9264: I taught too. Having a peaceful learning place is difficult. I was lucky to work in an old closet of a room with a table. Worked with Spanish speaking people. Over three years 200 Cuban families came through, Greek, Italian, and more.

[smburwick]

03:01 PM on 07/14/2011

sydney: yawn

[WHAT I BELEIVE]

12:35 PM on 07/14/2011

the lack of respect alot kids have parents, teachers, elders, etc, etc, is astounding­. Most parents putting kids in 'time out" ask them did your parents put you in time out and i'll be there mostly if not all say no. When I done wrong my mother or father disiplined me and it was sure as hell no time out. guess what. I've never been to jail, never got in trouble in school, never done drugs, did drink i'll admit that, I repect my elders and other people always yes sir, yes ma'am, All goes back to the parents, If my kid ever skips school which he doesn't because me and his mother are lets say" in his business" I am going to snatch him up and discipline my child and I'am not talking beat the hell out of him either, told his principle if he does something at school snatch him up take care it, then call me or his mother, glad to say i have never gotten a call from that man, and I have a 16 yr old son just starting to play football, respectful people, stays out of trouble, Me and his mother are very proud of him”

[glockman]

11:39 AM on 07/14/2011

"Concord schools' message to students: stop skipping class or pay up."

Yes, we must redouble our efforts of programming mindless drones to be grist for the mills of our corporate masters.

[Eric B Hutchison]

09:44 AM on 07/14/2011

I went to high school, and I wasn't "fined.". My parents went to work, and we went to school, it was our job. There was no discussion, there was no truancy, there was no cutting class. we were there; period. And yes, it was a different generation. My kids went to school; because. That's why.

[Ariel Bonzai]

08:33 AM on 07/14/2011

All about the ADA. Sure these kids should be in school. Maybe if they were crammed into classroooms doing drills for some test that has no impact on them whatsoever and is used to evaluate teachers, wrongly in every sense I might add, they'd take it more seriously. The older ones need to have options that afford some personalization. Even though colleges are designed to accept less than 50% of graduating HS students, we expect them to all aspire to college and we do give to determine aptitudes. The working poor children of this country understand college or no college, they are doomed to WalMart culture. Fining them instead of addressing their needs is consistent with the character of business, it scares me.

[sydakobra1]

08:09 AM on 07/14/2011

i do not understand,if a kid does not want to go to school why force him.but the bigger issue here is these unjust laws that keep getting passed and no one seems to care.just because an authority
passes a law it does not make it right.if you read the declaration of independence one of the complaints to the king was that he kept passing unfair and unjust laws,now it is being done to us,if it was not accepted then why is it being accepted today

[Ariel Bonzai]

08:38 AM on 07/14/2011

Good point. I seems unlikely patents would go for these Draconian measures. In LA truants can end up in the brutal system. It is ugly. And unnecessary. I think people need to become more involved but it's difficult when you are sinking in economic disaster, distracted by desires conditioned into us all by capitalism. Didn't drop outs flourish in shop class, vocational school, secretarial training? It is not about students. It's about money.

[Jonathan Siedow]

10:26 AM on 07/14/2011

I agree. If a kid doesn't want to attend school and he or she is 16, then let them drop out. Education is a very self-motivating process. You can't force someone to learn. They have the choice to go or not go. The whole thing has become absurd. If you want to go to school, go, if you don't they stay at home an be an idiot.

[TROOPER-X]

07:32 AM on 07/14/2011

Becoming educated is an option, so is becoming a burden to society. Maybe revise laws where if one chooses to opt out of school..................the taxpayers will not be responsible for 1 cent of assistance.

[benji85]

08:10 AM on 07/14/2011

I like that idea, no GED, or diploma no help.

[rabb046]

03:33 PM on 07/14/2011

Yeah, great idea.
That way no one will turn to crime.

[Jonathan Siedow]

10:28 AM on 07/14/2011

Exactly, Trooper-x!

[Sandi K H H]

04:52 AM on 07/14/2011

And where are these kids supposed to come up with that kind of money? Skipping class to go break into homes? This is just stupid. Will they throw them into detention if they can't pay? That'll get them to school won't it.

[Ariel Bonzai]

08:45 AM on 07/14/2011

Parents pay, and go to court. They lose work, and no one can afford these kinds of fines for boys playing hooky. Sometimes kids ditch because of bullies. The bullies can be teachers, too.everybody cashes in one way or another. It is insidious and only getting worse until we interject some sense into the crazy scheme to make schools profitable for rich corporate bull dogs.

[rjsparling]

04:42 AM on 07/14/2011

There are so many posts in which parents assert that they have no control over their kids - how do you stop a kid from leaving the house, how do you force them to stay in school - whatever.

These parents have only started trying to get their kids to behave AFTER the kids behavior begins to be a societal problem. They have waited too long.

Parents do not understand the importance of teaching discipline when the children are young. A 4 year old child who runs unchecked through the grocery store will run unchecked at 14 too. A 4 year old who sasses mom will call mom a bitch at 14.

Teach your children to behave starting around 2, you will thank yourself and be proud of them when they are 14. Have sit down family meals - every day - and teach them to observe table manners. They will learn discipline and self discipline that will make them strong adults.

A child's misbehavior may be cute and harmless, but they are learning patterns of behavior that they will take into their adulthood.

[WHAT I BELEIVE]

09:20 AM on 07/14/2011

I totally agree with your comment. the lack of respect alot kids have parents, teachers, elders, etc, etc, is astounding. Most parents putting kids in 'time out" ask them did your parents put you in time out and i'll be there mostly if not all say no. When I done wrong my mother or father disiplined me and it was sure as hell no time out. guess what. I've never been to jail, never got in trouble in school, never done drugs, did drink i'll admit that, I repect my elders and other people always yes sir, yes ma'am, All goes back to the parents, If my kid ever skips school which he doesn't because me and his mother are lets say" in his business" I am going to snatch him up and discipline my child and I'am not talking beat the hell out of him either, told his principle if he does something at school snatch him up take care it, then call me or his mother, glad to say i have never gotten a call from that man, and I have a 16 yr old son just starting to play football, respectful people, stays out of trouble, Me and his mother are very proud of him

[Joe Hennes]

09:58 AM on 07/14/2011

I taught long term sub in a kindergarten class once. The class was out of control. I used all of my not inconsiderable skill and just could not make any headway. It eventually became crystal clear talking to the parents. Fully 25% of the parents in conversation said some variation of, "They are only five, you can't expect them to behave or anything." Surprisingly (ha!) their children were the biggest problems. The fact that someone can be a parent and not know that the formative years for discipline are nearly OVER at 5 years old is one of the most frightening concepts I have ever faced.