THE EMERALD TRIANGLE NEWS…… MARIJUANA NEWS FROM HUMBOLDT AND MENDOCINO COUNTIES

“In October, District Attorney Meredith Lintott announced her office would help battle truancy in the county by taking the most serious cases to court. There are now three truancy cases winding through the court system, one involving the Willits Unified School District and two in Ukiah.

“Student absences cost the WUSD about $1 million in funding each year,” says WUSD Superintendent Deb Kubin.

In Mendocino County 42.3 percent of students last school year were considered truant compared to a statewide rate of 28.3 percent. WUSD had a 28.1 percent rate, comparable to the state average. The past failure by the district attorney to support county School Attendance Review Boards contributed to the county’s truancy levels according to last year’s Mendocino County Grand Jury review of the Fort Bragg and Laytonville schools.

Deputy District Attorney Matt Hubley is the prosecutor pursuing the truant parents.

“We want to see the kids go to school,” says Hubley. “Studies show that habitual truants frequently end up in the criminal justice system. Right now, we are focusing on cases involving younger students with abysmal attendance records, those who are in class less than half the time.

“In these cases parents can be charged under the education code associated with habitual truancy or with misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Once it enters the court system it proceeds like any other criminal case.”

Hubley says in the three cases now winding through the court system, one parent failed to appear in court, requiring an arrest warrant to be issued for them. While the misdemeanor charge can lead to a year in jail, it is extremely unlikely, according to Hubley since the main objective of the entire proceeding is to get the student to attend school. The court may allow the judgment to be deferred if the student remains in school and it may also impose special requirements on the family for counseling, restricting drugs and alcohol in the home or other restrictions.

Truancy is defined by the California Legislature as a student “missing 30 minutes or more of instruction without an excuse three or more times during a school year.” The parents are sent a truancy notice when this happens. School personnel will typically ask to meet with the student’s parents to find ways to prevent the problem from continuing or worsening, including further letters home when the problem worsens.

A habitual truant is defined as a student with three or more truant notifications and where school personnel have made an effort to meet with the child’s parent to fix the problem.

The schools make every effort to meet with the family and improve the student’s attendance record. Only when these efforts are not successful are parents are asked to appear before the Student Attendance Review Board. For the WUSD, the board consists of school officials, a representative from social services, a Willits police officer, a Mendocino County sheriff’s deputy and representatives from the departments of the County Probation Office and Child Protection Services.

The board’s focus is to get the child to attend school. The outcome of a meeting with the SARB is a legally binding contract, designed to address the individual needs of the student. If the contract is not followed, a citation may be issued or the case may be referred to the district attorney for prosecution.

Making sure a child attends school is considered a parent’s responsibility and failure to ensure the child attends school has lead to criminal prosecution. Last year in Eureka, a parent was jailed and CPS took her four children into custody after she failed to respond to letters seeking her cooperation and failed to appear in court.”