SHARE THIS SHOW:
ON THE BLOG:
RELATED CONVERSATIONS:
RECENTLY ON TOL:
The TOL Blog
TAGS:
Cracking Down on Truancy
Parents in Newberg might have to pay up if their kids cut class. A school principal worked with law enforcement in Newberg to craft a policy that would allow police officers to issue $242 citations to parents whose children are consistently absent from school. The Newberg School Board votes Monday night on the proposal, which includes the fine as a last resort — when letters, phone calls and a review board hearing haven't been effective. Oregon law allows for a citation policy, but each district has to create their own, so consequences for unexcused absences vary from district to district.
Portland Public Schools doesn't fine parents, but police in the Hillsboro district started issuing citations a few years ago. One radio station in John Day does its part to keep kids in school by announcing names of truants live on the air.
Have you had trouble keeping your kids in school? What works? What are the consequences for truancy in your district?
GUESTS:
- Jon Franco: Principal of Chehalem Valley Middle School
- Kelly Workman: Program director fo KJDY 1400 AM
- Roger Will: Assistant principal of Century High School
Photo credit: brianjmatis / Creative Commons
-
I'm a Behavioral Support Specialist working in Eugene, OR with kiddos who have been referred by their district because of ongoing classroom difficulties. I've worked with a few kids who struggle with truancy. I don't have an answer, but I DO NOT think slapping a fine on parents is helpful in extreme cases. Perhaps when the problem is new and the family needs a little extra push to support their child to attend school, a fine would be appropriate.
But with the kids I've seen, who have attendence below 50% for extended periods of time, there is much more going on than simply, "I don't want to go to school." Family life in these cases was very unstable, and there was a ton of parenting and therapy work to do with the families. Slapping a fine on these families, who were already struggling economically, really would not have any effect except to increase stress.
-
Yes, trying to punish people into desired behavior is usually counterproductive.
I'd like to hear about positive ways to try and reinforce the desired behaviors. I'd like to know that "Behavioral Support Specialists" get together and brainstorm about things to try, and maybe study what other nations like Norway, Sweden, Finland, etc, do about this problem.
One idea I have thought about is to tell the kids that we, the citizens of Oregon, work hard and pay our taxes to hire the teachers and build the schools, because we want to provide the best education we can afford and that we want the kids to take advantage of our hard work and generosity and take away as much education as they can so that they can have a good life. Tell them that Public schools are not "Free", that we adults pay a lot of money to help out the students in life, that we want them to succeed. That is, positively reframe the idea of "school" from forcing them to do something undesirable, to offering them a great opportunity to help themselves take control of their lives for their own futures.
I don't know if it would help if we told them how much money we invest in them each year towards helping them into their future. That they can take as much as they want of what we offer and they really ought to take as much as they can, because it is one of the best deals they will ever get as Americans. Add up all the years of money and it is one of the last great deals anyone gets. And so take all they can of it.
-
Tom,
Positively reframing school as an opportunity could be effective for a mature, thoughtful kid. I work with kids in 4th - 6th grade and most have pretty severe mental illness, so I'm doubtful as to whether they'd be able to listen and seriously consider this idea. In my classroom, I've tried to reframe school as an opportunity for them to connect with peers and get some adult support/attention. For some of these kids, that is effective.
In the program I work in, we use positive reinforcement in the sense that we acknowledge that for these kids right now, the biggest accomplishement is getting to school. When we start working with these kids, we try and make school a positive experience by making connections, supporting these kids strengths, etc. For example, taking breaks during the school day to shoot hoops with a kid who really likes to play street ball. We pick these kids up for school. We take them out to lunch. We make sure they have a connection with other staff in the school like the principle, the secretary, the cafeteria workers, the janitors. We work with them and their family in the home. We make sure they know we care and we want them at school and that they are more than their grades.
Beyond this, we try and address the source of the problem. For example, I've worked with kids with seperation anxiety who don't want to leave the family or kids who are using drugs and therefore are very unsuccessful at school and do not find belonging in a school atmosphere.
It's amazing what can happen when a kid knows you care about them and not just that they get to school. Letting them know that you know they have real problems, that they matter, and that you want to help can make a world of difference. Fining a family does not send this message.
I'm lucky in that I work in a classroom with 7 students and 4 staff members where the focus is not just school and academics and we can support kids with their many talents and not just their scholastic achievement.
I guess if I you were to pin me down for an answer to truancy, I'd say more support in schools in the form of staff, and not just teachers. Schools need therapists, counselors, B.S.S's, aides, parents, etc. Also, early intervention in high-risk families would be really helpful. It's nearly impossible to try and help a kid to attend school when the family lacks the skills to deal with these problem behaviors.
-
Whenever Americans have a problem we try to identify someone to blame and then we tell them "We are going to hurt you until you stop displeasing us." Doesn't work, but it's easy and we feel we've done the right thing, we've done "all we can."
Kids are truant and kids drop out (says this former high school teacher with one child currently a sophomore) because they are bored and feel humiliated being in a place they cannot function up to expectations. Why stay where there is nothing happening for you and you feel put down at every turn? How many losing hands does one play before one goes home?
As part of Oregon's general dis-investment in children (and families) over the past thirty years (in so far as there was ever any investment) our lack of commitment to prepare children for high school (or kindergarten, for that matter) is what is at the bottom of this.
This is not the schools' fault--we give them five gallons of water and expect them to put out a ten gallon fire. It's our own Propostion 5 kicker loving fault. (Having the lowest per capita tax rate for state and local government in the West Oregonians somehow feel they are too "over" taxed to provide a decent...I digress.)
When kids are ready to do what a school requires of them they come, they stay, they even go as far as the boundaries our resource investment allows them to go and try to go farther.
Check it out--how many kids who drop out/are truant were on the honor roll last semester/quarter? How many of them are up to date on their high school credits?
Uh-huh.
We almost always fail to find the real culprit in situations like this, but our applying pain to our scapegoats does always end up hurting that real culprit--which is, of course, us, in the long run.
It's hard enough to keep bored dogs in the yard, you cannot keep bored people anywhere--short of watch towers and barbed wire--where nothing is going on for them and where their only role is to bend the curve to make us think that our "smart" kids are actually smarter than we are willing to pay to make them.
I am Timothy Travis and appreciate the opportunity to say all this.
-
You are correct -- schools are underfunded. I beleive school administrators and teachers have a good idea what needs to be done to improve outcomes, but simply aren't being given the resources necessary to do those things. My daughter, with attention problems, was placed into a classroom with 26 other kids where it was nearly impossible for her to learn anything due to all the distractions. We need to decide whether we want the schools to just be a free babysitting service, or if we willing to give them the resources they need to actually educate our kids to the best of each child's ability to learn.
The other problem is that the schools use social promotion for grades K-8, where there are little consequences for poor performance. Then in highschool they are thrown into an environment where they actually have to demonstrate mastery to get credits, and they then have to suddenly make up for the defiencies of the previous 9 years. Then we are suprised when students facing the embarrassment of taking 5 of 6 years to finish high instead choose to drop out.
-
Fining parents seems counter-productive. A high school age student who does not want to go to school probably does not respond well to home authority either. Why lay down more stress for the family to deal with?
After about 14 years old there is no way to make a student attend high school if they do not want to.
I suggest talking to students who bail out of high school attendance. In many cases there are good reasons why they don't want to go into a high school. Legitimate concerns for personal safety, avoidance of sexual harassment, irrelevant instruction courses for their areas of interest, and continued harassment from teachers and administrators who have labelled a student as a "repeat offender" create awful environments in the schools for many students. A big high school can be very similar to a prison environment for a lot of kids on the margins of the high school community.
Better: After some level of unexcused truancy, withhold or revoke a student's driver's license until either the required level of instruction is reached or the student reaches 18 years old. 15 to 18 year olds will be motivated to attend to keep a driver's license.
And: Itemize actual per-student costs of truancy. Use whatever formula that makes sense. Each student with a truancy problem will have a continuing lien against their future State of Oregon tax refunds or tax kicker to recover the costs of trying to enforce their attendance at high school. The state receives funds to reimbiurse districts' anti-truancy costs. The students get charged with a direct consequence for their own actions.
-
The consequences for the children who choose to cut glass will be felt in their adult life.
-
They will become glass artists I guess
-
I worked with Ben Westlund as the Oregon Cultural Trust was being launched, after he had skillfully moved the idea through the legislative process. I admit that my first impression of him wasn't that great; he struck me as a glad-handing politician. However, my respect for him grew as I learned just how thoughtful he was and, most importantly, what a big heart he had and how much he really cared about the issues for which he fought. I wish there were more like him in politics today. He was willing to take political risks to do what was right, including going against his party when necessary.
-
In high school I was a profligate class cutter mostly due to a blossoming drug and alcohol problem. I know that fines to my parents probably would have had little effect on my behavior because I simply didn't care about what they wanted me to do. The fact that they were responsible enough to house me and keep me fed and with a roof over my head should not have exposed them to civil penalties for my behavior. I might have felt bad about my parents being fined, but I also felt bad when I stole money from them or injured myself causing them to incur medical costs. Further, most of my class cutting friends were the children of broken homes of lower economic status whose parents could not afford fines for their children's class cutting.
My thoughts are:
1) If it can be shown that the parent is responsible for the absence of younger children, or children who would otherwise attend school, perhaps they SHOULD be fined.
2) This plan is inconsistent. Do we fine the parents of children who drop out?
3) Why should a parent be responsible for a child's behavior, if the parent has no control over the child? Will there be a a defense available to the parents?
-
That is not a surprise considering Newberg is a town chocked full of evangelical Christians and a lot of trash. The last thing the Newberg police department needs are more ways to harass residents of the sacred wannabe community. Oh, yes, they have a new luxury hotel, but you can't enforce luxury in a community of fakers and busybodies. Just like you can't force kids to be somewhere they don't want to be. I am not surprised kids in Newberg want to skip school, I would---skipping school is probably the only break they get from the repression and banality of their lives and community.
I have spent lots of time in Newberg---just the other day in fact, when a man mentioned to me 'the coloured guy in the white house is 'f'-ing the country up.' I heard from another women how her Obama sticker was vandalized. And many more... . Newberg should be more concerned about the quality of the adults, and all the members of its community, rather then creating, yet, another way to police its population. If the precious offspring of Newbergians want to skip school, so be it---it might be the only fun, and freedom, they have in life. A last hurrah, before they head to George Fox University to be molded into adult Christians.
-From, The Whine Country
-
Example of Penalty/ Fine Regulation that DOES NOT WORK: YOUTH HELMET LAW.
Since 1994, any child under the age of 16 in the State of Oregon is legally obliged to wear a protective helmet while Skateboarding, Roller Blading, Biking or Scootering...essentially 90% of time outdoors for this skateboard generation. When I go to skateparks, there is ZERO compliance. The Ticket/Fine is written to the child and the parent or custodian must pay particularly for children under the age of 12 years.
This Law is IGNORED as much as the 55/65 mph Speed Limit. We all suffer needless head trauma and burden on health care costs. Most Police Officers are ignorant of this law and have never wrote a Violation in their career.
Why should another Heedless Law be Added.
By the Way to find TRUANT CHILDREN, go to the Skateboard Park.
-
One possible solution is to explain to the students that their well-being is a team effort between themselves, their parents, their teachers and any other caring adult in their lives. Succeeding in school is an integral part of success later in life, and that's why they should attend. If they have trouble going to school - for whatever reason - they should talk to their teammates and figure out a solution. They should be told that there are other options out there, from changing teachers or schools, or dropping out for a year to work, or even dropping out and getting a GED.
-
We're talking about children here! They are unable or unwilling or simply won't do what they don't want to do unless parents make them. We can't expect the school system to be mother and father to students, as is the trend. Parents must be responsible for teaching their children right from wrong.
Unfortunately, the one thing that really motivates people is money, or the threat of the loss of money. I know that life is much more complicated than to simply say, "Control your children and make them go to school." Parents are distracted by the basics of survival in this brutal world of wage slavery and worker exploitation. But at what point are parents absolved from responsibility for their childrens' behavior?
-
In fact we aren't "talking about children". They are youngsters in years only. In knowledge and (too often) from experience they are adults. From about the 4th or 5th grade onward our "children" are exposed to more of everything life has to offer than 20 year olds when I was a boy.
Gratuitious violence, drugs, sex, booze, and every perversion man has invented are all around them. By age 12 or 13 these little monsters are ancient in knowledge. We have allowed the entertainment media and marketing pros to steal their innocence and childhood from them.
It is plainly silly to continue treating these psychological malformed "children" as home reared kids were dealt with by the public school system 25 or 30 yrs ago. They will not be cured of truancy or classroom indiscipline by either carrots or sticks. It is the totality of the modern American environment that must be changed if parents and teachers are going to regain control.
Good luck with that one.
-
So often these days it is suggested that problems in society be solved with fines or fees, but do these really solve anything or just make those who are suffering suffer more? Families with truant children may be so because they are already in poverty, perhaps single parents who can't always watch their children because they are working to feed them. We need to look closer at people's situations and figure out how they can be helped, not systematically punish them.
-
I think that this is a great idea. Truancy does not always start in high school. I am an Early Childhood Education Major about to graduate, and through the last few years of student teaching I have seen truancy start as early as first grade. Often times when parents allow their children to consistantly miss school it leads to them falling behind and loosing intrest in thier education. Often times when older children are missing school they are far behind in their education and often having problems at home. Staying home from school will not help this problem. It is the responcibility of parents to make sure that their child is recieving any extra help that is needed and that their children attend school. Truancy is agianst the law, when parents do not enforce this law they are stealing an education from their children.
-
If our schools are doing such a bad job anyway, as we are repeatedly told, then how can missing it do any harm? I skipped about half of my last two years of high-school and I graduated forth in my class, in a very competitive school.
-
Here's a radical idea:
Instead of cutting school budgets, which seems to be the first thing politicians reach toward with the budget machete, how about we make education an inviolable first priority, just like the politicians claim it is when they're campaigning for office (or re-election, or re-re-election, or re-re-re-election, etc.).
Politicians all tell us while campaigning that they think education is their top priority, and that a well-educated populace is the key to our success as a society. How about it, Salem? Ready to put our money where your mouth is?!?!?
-
"Penny From Eugene — Mon March 8th 9:57a.m."
Conservative Republicans want to get rid of public schools, they consider them to be "socialism". They also want to get rid of Teachers Unions and for the same reason. And that is why they keep attacking public schools from every angle they have, by cutting taxes, mandating "no child left behind", mandating funding of religious schools, etc.
"how about we make education an inviolable first priority"
I'm sure with you on that!
-
As to the problem of truant children, I would like to know one thing:
Who the heck decided that OPEN CAMPUS was a good idea?!?!
When I was in school, we had closed campus, which meant that once you arrived at school, you were there for the day, unless you had a note or other early dismissal arranged by your parent, such as for an appointment with the doctor.
Where I went to High School, closed campus was not a big deal -- there was almost nothing near the school to go to...no mall, no MickeyD's, no skate park, no nothing. (Yes, I know that is a double-negative...I am using it for emphasis.)
Let's return to a policy of closed campus, keep the kids in school where they belong, and out of the way of us adults during the day. Maybe they'll actually learn how to read.
(Climbing down off the soapbox. Who's next?)
-
In the 4th grade I was involved with a variety of tumultuous family activities - only some of these met the excused absence criteria. I continued to work on packet materials sent home by my teachers and, at the end of the semester, ended up with straight A's with over 40 days being absent. I was informed that school district policy at my school dictated I flunk for the entire sememster. Several meetings were required to overturn this decision and in this process I lost respect for my teachers and school administrators.. this was my first encounter with beauracratic idiocy - How is this policy going to affect the students that are conintuing to perform well? ..or continue to advance in their skills? Will they be exempt? Or are you too going to penalize students of families that experience life challenges as mine did?
-
In the 4th grade I was involved with a variety of family activities - only some of these met the excused absence criteria. I continued to work on packet materials sent hom by my teachers and, at the end of the semester, ended up with straight A's with over 40 days being absent. I was informed that school district policy at my school dictated I flunk for the entire sememster. Several meetings were required to overturn this decision and I lost respect for my teachers and school administrators.. this was my first encounter with beauracratic idiocy - How is this policy going to affect the students that are conintuing to perform well? ..or continue to advance in their skills? Will they be exempt? Or are you too going to penalize students of families that experience life challenges as mine did?
-
In working with 8th graders, I have had struggling students tell me that they could not pick who their parents (when parents were not supportive of academics). Fining parents seems like just a way to enforce the law.
-
Do these schools have counselors available every school day? Our experience with Portland Public schools is schools not have enough counselors to help these kids. If counselors are available they will head off many problems before it gets to extreme truancy. But now, Once a problem is identified there are not counselors on hand adequately. Sorry you can only have a problem on Tuesday and Friday.
-
Fines for parents should only be in extreme cases. If there is drug abuse or family violence. How many of these kids are not having those problems? I would suspect the majority of these kids would benefit from school counseling. Parents are busy, teachers and students bully, students are bored,etc. WE need to put money into our schools educating our kids and have counselors, nurses, librarians and other support staff at school every school day at every school!
-
In response to the comment about misssing a lot of school and still graduating. I understand Portland Public schools will continue to advance kids from grade to grade even when they have all F's.
-
It's called "social promotion"; it is done in grades K-8, then suddenly in high school, the rules change and they have to actually pass classes to get required credits to graduate from high school. Apparently the schools got tired of parents bitching about kids who flunked because they obviously didn't meet the minimum standards for advancement, and just decided "screw it... promote everyone!"
-
Why would the fee not be put toward efforts toward developing alternative learning environment for youth that obviously are in need.
I (barely) graduated from Sherwood High school in 2007, my struggles rooted from lack of excercise, social insecurity which led to alcohol abuse and constant absence from school. My parents had no control over me, and I hurt them almost beyond repair. I have now learned the necessity of staying active for my general well being and have turned my life around- enjoying my Junior year at Portland State now. And am actually looking forward to becoming an educater for health because of my struggles previously.
It is absolutely unproductive to give families with usually less financial stability more burden on top of dealing with the pain of having a less understood child.
-
I'm hearing something like this for the first time in my life. I would say that the idea is very good and wonderful, this move would bring in more responsibility to the parents to make sure that they attend the schools. Stuufs like these works with kids to an extend. I would also inform my Chrysalis School Montana to work out some ideas like this which would benifit the whole students and school.
-
The punishment/reward system is only a bandaid. The real problems are always deeper and require human to human contact with compassion. It sounds like the Hillsboro School District is figuring that out. I would hope Newberg looks at that model of addressing the real problems before punishing families who actually need support.
-
Punishing parents for their children's truancy makes little more sense than punishing the teachers for children's truancy. My child was in a classroom wherein the teacher jumped at every opportunity to humiliate her and embarrass her in front of her peers, and actively encouraged the other children to ridicule her and ostracize her. This led to my daughter objecting to this treatment, which led to almost daily complaints by the teacher about "behavior problems", which continued to get worse the more the teacher treated her different from the other children. In desperation, we asked that our daughter be transferred to a different classroom, and the "behavior problems" magically all went away! If your are going to fine the parents, why not fine the teachers too, for intentionally driving the children they don't like out of their classrooms? Note that since now teacher performance is judged my how well their students do on standarized tests, teachers now have a very strong incentive to get rid of poorly scoring students in order to better their own evaluations. Since kicking a child out is virtually impossible, they do the next best thing: ride the child every day until they stop showing up for class.
-
We relocated to Portland in 2000 at the beginning of my son's junior year in high school. He attended one of the premier public high schools in Portland. His first term report card showed that he had 18 unexcused absences and tardies. The school never notified us or inquired about his excessive absences. His teachers never called or emailed us about his absences and tardies. It was an eye-opening expericence because we had come from a school (in the south) where parents were called if a student was 10 minutes late! Schools need to work in partnership with parents and students. We felt totally let down by this particular school.
-
Why does everyone have their knickers in a twist over truancy? Given the fact a high school diploma is virtually worthless in today's job market, as is a lib arts degree, staying longer than 8 yrs in school makes no sense.
It would be better all round to let less bright and less disciplined kids drop out after the 8th grade and learn a trade in the manufacturing sector. Oh! I forgot, everything we once made is now made for us in China. Well, then, these drop outs could take jobs that don't require any but the most undemanding skills like sweeping walks, lawn care, roofing, etc. Ooops! Once more I am over looking another fact: those jobs are already taken by illegals.
There is always the military. They now take almost anyone with an opposing thumb. Male and female. War seems to be the one industry in which we lead the world. As long as we continue to keep the political hacks of the major parties in DC, we will always need more cannon fodder.
-
"There is always the military. They now take almost anyone with an opposing thumb. Male and female." -- Gereng — Wed March 10th 11:21a.m.
Not completely accurate, but I (for one) get your point. A number of years ago (never mind how many!), when I was about to graduate from High School, I contemplated entering the Service, and spoke to recruiters from all branches to see which I thought would be the best fit. Among the things I learned were that not only did All Branches require females to have their HS Diploma before enlisting, but the Marine Corps expected all recruits to be HS Graduates in order to enlist. I also found out that they would accept recruits at 17 with parental consent, or 18 on one's own consent. Further, if one professes to be gay, lesbian, or bi-sexual, they won't take 'em either. (Hopefully THAT will change soon.)
-
For Penny from Eugene From Gereng:
It is true that at least in the Corps one does require a high school diploma. I don't know about the other services. I understand that wavers will be granted by the army for everything from being illiterate in English to having a criminal record.
I spent 5 yrs in the Marines 53-58. I was a reservist who received The Call. About the notion that young people with irregular sexual orientations should be permitted to serve without restrictions of any sort...Well, Penny, you have obviously not spent much time among soldiers or Marines. They tend on the whole to be a rough lot not known to be overly sensitive to the fragile psyche of people with disoriented sexual appetites.
However, I am resigned to the fact that everything possible will be done in the name of liberialism to degrade the military and reduce its overall effectivenes. Forcing normal soldiers to share showers with other men who oggle them (if nothing more) is a certain way to increase the numbers fragged in future wars.
About truancy: We should do as the Brits once did. Test kids at age 11 or 12 and those with scholastic aptitude are channeled in to courses that prepare them for university. Those that do not qualify for university will be offered training that prepares them for whatever jobs we have by then not given away to the wily Orientals. The idea that every kid should go to university is a typically bizarre, and costly American notion.
-
I do appreciate the effort of the school principal in being so particular with the absences or cutting class of their students, well I think they really have to think best way that will motivate their students to attend class regularly, since absenteeism will affect their academic performance. The current thing of sugar daddies and sugar mamas is not without precedent. You see, in Ancient Greece (though it was little different) when a person was young, they often would seek out a mentor of sorts, though back then, it was a person of the same sex. The current, um…"sugar" people bestow lavish gifts and so forth –in ancient times, many payday loans worth were spent on courting a person to mentor. The bulk of these relationships (women did this too) were chaste (no sex), there WAS an erotic component – the admiration of beauty of a youth. Aside from some obvious differences (hetero pairings for instance) is there THAT much difference?
-
Keeping kids off the streets and in their homes where they can be in an environment to foster learning, benefits America's future.
-
Comments are now closed.
Forest Grove School District uses truancy services provided by NWRESD and Washington County's Sheriff's Department. When attendance problems first start, staff members meet with students, contact parents and try to resolve the situation before starting the truancy process. The first step is an initial notice outlining Oregon's compulsory school attendance law which is delivered to parent and requires the parent to bring the form to school and meet with staff about the attendance problem. Many times, that's all that's needed. But more often than we like, if attendance does not improve, parents are required to attend a mandatory meeting with school administrator, truant officer, counselor and other support staff. Then, if the attendance problem is not corrected, a citation is issued and parents go to court. The problem is that while it may appear to address the problem, it frequently doesn't lead to the outcome we need. Punishing parents by fining them can only be part of the approach a school district should take. Parents who struggle to get their kids to go to school need support and help in order to succeed. Sending them a ticket to pay should be the last resort after all other efforts have failed.