Indiana Parents Could Face Criminal Charges If Kids Skip School, Are Habitually Truant

When students skip class, parents could be the ones punished -- as criminals.

A new program in Marion County, Ind., which comprises 11 school districts including Indianapolis Public Schools, will allow prosecutor Terry Curry to file charges in criminal court against parents who don't send their children to school. The new system goes into effect this school year.

A student in the area is considered "habitually truant" if he or she has accumulated 10 or more unexcused absences in a single school year. The initiative applies to students 11 years of age or younger.

School social workers will monitor student attendance, and parents will be notified if their child has accumulated two or three absences. Following notification, the prosecutor's office will pick up the case from schools and determine if they must press charges.

For the most part, parents involved in cases will be asked to join a diversion program. Compliance means that nothing will be added to parents' criminal record, but noncompliance means appearance in criminal court and potential jail time.

The cases were formerly sent to juvenile court, but the new initiative aims to pressure parents to place added emphasis on their kids attending school, The Indianapolis Star reports.

"The children ... should not be relied upon to police their own behavior," Curry told The Star. "[Parents] need to step up to that responsibility."

The goal of the program, the prosecutor's office says, is to work with parents to curb instances of truancy -- not to target or punish those facing challenging situations.

"The purpose is to get kids in school and connect parents to resources they need," Curry told WISH-TV.

Last year, 155 truancy cases were filed in Marion County, WIBC reports.

Marion County joins several communities across the country that are implementing stricter policies to fight truancy. Students in Concord, Calif. will be facing large fines for excessive unexcused absences beginning this school year.

Comments

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

04:27 PM on 08/05/2011

Here's a radical idea: Stop treating teenagers like criminals. Schools are not prisons, teachers are not guards, and parents are not parole officers. Abolish truancy laws completely. Instead, treat students like intelligent human beings. Yes, parents should be required to provide an education for their children, but is threatening them with jail the best alternative?

Require that children under 12 attend school or be home-schooled. Restructure Jr. High and High schools to be more like Jr. colleges, with majors, required and elective classes, etc. Have objective annual tests, which are voluntary, not coerced, and have them given and graded by an outside agency. If a young man or woman passes all the objective tests he or she receives a certificate of competency, which is in addition to any diploma awarded by the school.

I realize that treating young people like human beings, with dignity and respect, is a fairly novel idea, but it can't be worse than treating them like runaways from a chain-gang.

[frogfan23]

10:38 AM on 08/05/2011

There definitely needs to be some sort of accountability. Last year I taught at a school where it was pretty common for particular students to miss 2-3 days a WEEK of school. They missed so much school that they didn't learn much at all. One student's mom arranged a parent/teacher conference and then never showed. This same mother pulled her kid out of school at least 2 days a week. Should she be thrown in jail? No. Should she be visited by a truancy officer and given a fine? Most definitely. The law of school attendance needs to be enforced. The law in Texas stipulates that any time a student misses more than 10% of the school year they are out of compliance. Out of a 187 day school year, that equates to 19 days. The ADMINISTRATION needs to get involved at that point. It's not the teacher's job to teach, take attendance, serve as surrogate mother (or father), discipline, do paperwork, attend ARDs, and follow up to see why these kids aren't in school.

The law in Indiana needs to apply to kids over the age of 11. I taught 7th grade and if I were in Indiana that law wouldn't even apply to my students. What sense does that make? Truancy in teens is waaay higher than in elementary kids.

[eric14]

06:09 PM on 08/04/2011

Any child late: autocall to home. No reply in set time, second call made by person.

[SoCalifTeacher]

08:10 AM on 08/05/2011

You assume that most parents at schools with high truancy rates have phones or working numbers. My school @ 60% - no phone number.

[phntsticPeg]

07:29 PM on 08/08/2011

Where I worked some of the parents purposely gave wrong contact numbers because they didn't want to hear from the school. Many teachers would have to go to the house to get a parent, especially if the child had behavior problems.

I've had parents cuss me out and tell me that their kid was my problem until 6pm when the after school program was over. They dropped them off at 7am, the school didn't receive kids until 7:30am and the custodian would feel bad and let the kids sit inside when it was cold out.

I'm all for parent accountability. It's your child, you either do your job and raise them or give them to the state.

It's not fair to the kids - parents who don't care need to some penalty.

[Eric Mann]

05:32 PM on 08/04/2011

Do I think there ought to be some legal ramifications for parents of students who are truant? Yes. Do they need jail time? Probably not. Fines are good enough-hit them in the wallet-and make sure those fines can be paid through payroll garnishment, tax return garnishment, or any aid garnishment. That will make the point just as well.

[phntsticPeg]

07:36 PM on 08/08/2011

As a teacher I've been saying this for years - cut whatever aid they get if they are not doing their job. Your child is excessively absent? Fighting all the time? Won't do their homework? You as the parent don't come to back to school night to get the report card? Well, then you can obviously lose some state benefits for a marking period or you may a percentage more in state taxes for that marking period.

Why? If you neglect your child's education their should be a penalty. That child will ultimately become a burden to the state for the rest of his or her life if they cannot work because they cannot read.

I also think parents should be given a option - either put the child in counseling, tutoring or whatever service that he/she needs in order to prevent them from being penalized. I'll all for giving someone the opportunity to work through a difficult situation but there has to be accountability at some point.

And yes I am a black woman who grew up in and taught in the ghetto.

[Bryneen Gary]

04:13 PM on 08/04/2011

That'll be Mad funny, if the Parents went to jail, everytime a Kid skips class. everytime my parents would upset me, I'd skip school all the time. hahahaha
Of course I would be grounded til 18.

[Hlynn]

04:06 PM on 08/04/2011

From the article:

"A student in the area is considered "habitually truant" if he or she has accumulated 10 or more unexcused absences in a single school year. The initiative applies to students 11 years of age or younger."

This is nonsense. Since this only pertains to UNexcused absences, all a parent has to do is write a note saying the student was excused, no matter how many times the student is absent. Parents often lie for their children. Anyway, it is the older students who are more likely to skip classes, so why the age cutoff?

The other plan is just as useless. If parents can't/won't pay fines, then what? Add more fines? The jails are already overcrowded and what if that parent is the only caregiver for the child? Mom or Dad goes to jail and the child goes into a foster home, when there already aren't enough competent foster parents? If the child keeps skipping, then what--fine the foster parents?

Someone really didn't think this through. Recently someone sent me an article titled "The Death of Commonsense". I think it died a LONG time ago.

[lcr999]

05:27 PM on 08/04/2011

You are assuming that it is the parent who decides what is "excused" and what is not. That is not the way it works in NY.

[Hlynn]

06:09 PM on 08/04/2011

First, there were no specifics about what does and doesn't qualify as unexcused. Second, this article is about Indiana. Third, where I work, any time a parent calls an absence excused--even if the student tells us the parent kept them home to shovel snow, which has happened--we have to accept it as an excused absence.

[android81]

10:32 PM on 08/05/2011

Exactly the point I was going to make. In my district, the habitually absent always have parent excuses.

[granitegirl]

04:04 PM on 08/04/2011

"A student in the area is considered "habitually truant" if he or she has accumulated 10 or more unexcused absences in a single school year. The initiative applies to students 11 years of age or younger"

I guess I'm not aware that this is enough of a problem to require a State law.
If a child is missing from a class for a few days, most teachers I know would call home - in the evening.
Many schools have automatic call home based on attendance for the day and I know kids can delete these. The article also mentions a school social worker to contact parents.

I did not see anything in the article to indicate what % of students fall into the excessive unexcused absences category.

A school district should be able to address this problem without it becoming a State law.

[El Chingaso]

03:15 PM on 08/04/2011

There you go again: over-criminalizing the citizenry. And worse, it's because of kids cutting classes in that deep-in-the-Abyss public education system. This country has completely lost its mind...and lunacy is firmly calling the shots. Indiana, you need to repeal this law now. Citizens of Indiana: ban together and sue the state. There's no way something like this can go unchallenged in a state and/or federal court system.

[mlaiuppa]

04:31 PM on 08/04/2011

You can't teach them if they're not there.

Whose responsibility is it? The parents.

[Rhancheck]

09:38 AM on 08/05/2011

Pennsylvania works a lot like this also, although they stop at fines, which ramp up quickly in penialty. But, making sure the kids get to school AND instilling a value of education is the parent's responcibility. Although withthe rise of cyber-schooling, there are options for a child who is so socially maladjusted.

[stopnlisten]

03:02 PM on 08/04/2011

Plan: take away driver's licenses from kids 14-16 if truant. If you miss more than 10 days you are out and there is this thing called summer school. If kids don't want to be in school and the parents don't help solve the problem then they can sign a contract saying they can't accept any government assistance unless the child attends school regularly.

[lcr999]

05:28 PM on 08/04/2011

summer school costs money. One of those luxury items that got cut.

[stopnlisten]

09:18 PM on 08/04/2011

Not for the poorer kids. I teach summer school. We make it work if they finally "figure it out."

[Dede Eagleburger]

10:05 AM on 08/05/2011

kids under 16 have drivers licenses where you live?

[stopnlisten]

02:57 PM on 08/04/2011

They need to do this with kids 12-15. That's where we lose em' and that's where parents disengage and blame everything on the teacher. Can't teach an empty chair folks.

[phntsticPeg]

07:43 PM on 08/08/2011

Isn't that the law - that kids have to be in school until 16 anyway? So why cut the age off at 11?

Your point is valid, but it seems no one is listening to reason.

[stopnlisten]

02:55 PM on 08/04/2011

The same parents that complain that this is unfair also bellow that their kids aren't getting a good education or that they aren't prepared for the work force! Time to start parenting folks. Face it. You
do have accountablitiy and responsibility when it comes to raising your kids.

[J R M]

02:53 PM on 08/04/2011

I never cut school, but I certainly cut some classes because they were wasting my time. I had a deal with my 8th grade biology teacher. I read the book and I showed up at class every day. If there was a test or a lab - I did it. Otherwise, I went to the library.Doing everything utterly cold I still got a B+ and was chosen to be the student teacher for the student teacher day. I gave a class on carnivorous plants and got a much better understanding of how hard it was to prepare a class.

If you want me in class, you better be prepared to teach me.

My grandfather had the same problem 100 years ago. He worked out a deal - as soon as he was done with the week's assignments he got to go to the library. He didn't spend much time in class and I suspect he learned more in the library.

[IndieMG]

03:17 PM on 08/04/2011

As a teacher, I understand what you are saying. I have had students that fit the same category. I always gave them a choice of alternatives. The funny thing is they never chose to leave the classroom, they thought I was nuts but funny! I hope you love your career as much as I loved mine.

[J R M]

04:00 PM on 08/04/2011

My grandafther became a notably tough and demanding chemistry teacher - students weren't bored in his classes - they learned and mastered college chemistry in high school.

I studied physics, got a Ph.D. in engineering and have been surfing through the waves of change in the high tech space for the past 40 years. My 15 year old daughter has followed in our footsteps in stretching teachers. I expect that she will finish her high school work next year, just as she turns 15. Then it is off to college - probably the running start program.

The discussions of reform and testing consistently miss the disciplined students who are far ahead of their classmates. And teachers focused upon bringing up the slower students can neglect them. My daughter just completed a correspondence course in honors pre-calculus, which she did in 7 weeks. I liked her comment concerning her unit test on the trigonometric identities - "Once you understand what is going on, and given an open book for the formulas, there is no problem doing these problems."

[mlaiuppa]

04:38 PM on 08/04/2011

I completely understand and would have cut the same deal with you.

Our school system is not set up to be flexible enough to accommodate alternative learners, of which you are one.

I actually set something similar up with a few sixth graders in my math class. By March they had finished the coursework, so per our deal I got them a 7th grade textbook from the library and arranged for them to audit a 7th grade class. Not sure how far they got, but I hope the 7th grade math teachers allowed them the same flexibility to learn at their own pace. (BTW I gave them a choice of doing this, becoming student teachers or just reading a book or doing work for another class. They all chose to start 7th grade math. I told them I'd be available for help. Only once did they have a question. Quadratic equations. In five min. they were off on their own again.)

This is how school should be for all. But it is choked by standardization and pacing.

[J R M]

05:28 PM on 08/04/2011

I could not agree more. There are others like my daughter, but they are all seem to be viewed as examples of the strange genera of "geek".

[Ayla87]

02:45 PM on 08/04/2011

I don't see what the big deal is. This law only pertains to children under the age of 11 years old. That's elementary school. If a young child is missing that many days of school at such a young age, 9 times out of 10 it's the parents fault. A six year old doesn't wake up in the morning and think to themselves "Screw that place! I'm not going" the way a 16 year old does.

Either the parent's aren't getting them ready on time, aren't reporting legitimate illness as an excused absence, or they simply don't value education enough to get their kids to school.

[SamiSam]

03:38 PM on 08/04/2011

I'm not sure if jail is the proper route, but some sort of punishment needs to be put down. I had a kid last year that missed, get ready for it, 50 days of school. That is not an exaggeration. And, he never had a note. The way things are in NYC is a case is red flagged if the kid misses 10 days in a row. But two this week, two the next, tend to add up. It's a mes.

[AndyWright68]

02:34 PM on 08/04/2011

Government schools are garbage!

Violence against peaceful people for not forcing their kids into brain-crushing institutions of violence and indoctrination.

A very, very sick society.

Send your kids to our schools or else we will shoot you!

Refuse to send your kids and they will send you demand letters. Ignore them and they will send costumed bullies with guns. Ignore them and they will kick down your door. Resist and they will brutalize you. Defend yourself from this assault with a weapon and they will shoot and klll you.

All because you do not comply. Peaceful people being forced to comply with guns pointed at them. This is the true nature of the state. Free yourself from this kind of abuse and brutality and stop supporting the state and all of it's crimes against humanity.

Abolish those in power and live free!

[stopnlisten]

02:52 PM on 08/04/2011

Commune living is making you very angry.

[AndyWright68]

03:30 PM on 08/04/2011

Living under threats of violence from those you support is.

[IndieMG]

03:19 PM on 08/04/2011

That is nonsense, you can home school if you choose, in every state.

[AndyWright68]

03:32 PM on 08/04/2011

Only if you register, report to them and teach what they force you to teach.

Why should you have to ask permission? If you have to ask permission then you are not free.

[sydneymoon]

02:31 PM on 08/04/2011

"Indiana wants me, Lord, I can't go back there..........."