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 Chronic
absenteeism ‘truancy’ causes students to fail, financial hardship on
schools as they lose state and federal funds for each student in
attendance on a day-to-day basis and it is tied to juvenile
delinquency rates.
Truancy and juvenile delinquency have each been
at a peak high in Lincoln and Logan County for several years, but
school and law enforcement authorities have had little they could
do. Truancy has been regulated by state school code. In July 2006
the state of Illinois passed new legislation,
Public Act 941011 This act giving municipalities and counties
an opportunity to write their own ordinance to help keep kids in
school.
The proposed truancy ordinance would affect
children between the ages of 7 – 17 years.
The Act allows that the local ordinance can
include fines and community service for truancy violations.
Parents may be penalized for violations by students under the age of
10 years old.
The regional superintendents office tracks all
truants and has a program in place to help chronically delinquent
students get back on track. This just provides us with another
tool, Anderson said. She said that she has already seen some
results just talking with some of the current students.
It’s been noted that in neighboring Peoria and
in Rockford the weekday, daytime crime rate went down after a
stricter truancy law went into effect.
Both the county and the city began working
toward adopting an ordinance this year. Included in the ordinance
is a daytime curfew, which basically suggests that children of
school age cannot be out in public on school days during standard
school hours.
Parents that home school are concerned that
their children could or would be stopped by police and questioned if
they were seen out in public or even playing in their yards.
City aldermen made several comments that put
the intention, or spirit of the law, in context. Kathy Horn said
that as the mother of six boys she would want to know if one of her
kids was somewhere he didn’t belong. The police are busy, they
wouldn’t be looking to stop all kids, aldermen noted.
Ordinance chairman Marty Neitzel met with the
home school parents to try to work out details that would work for
them as well. The group presented the ordinance with revisions last
night.
Alderman Neitzel had recently attended the
Illinois Municipal League Conference that had a session on truancy.
She relayed the information and a copy the featured ordinance that
Rockford developed to city attorney Bill Bates. Bates took that
ordinance and rewrote it for Lincoln.
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Bates was asked his opinion of the proposed ordinance revisions
presented by the home school group. He told aldermen that the
changes “seriously dilute what I’ve been told you want.”
He observed these objections to the groups
proposed ordinance:
- It is not a violation of the ordinance unless
a citation is issued within 30 days.
- It changes the definition of truant. The
student’s name would need to be on a list from the regional
superintendent’s office. If they are not on a list from that
office, then they are not a truant.
- It makes students in private or parochial
schools not subject to compulsory attendance.
The ordinance that he modeled after Rockford’s
ordinance addresses all students including those in public, private
and parochial schools.
Ordinance chair Marty Neitzel said that after
almost a year in the making of this ordinance she was ready to move
on the proposed ordinance. She motioned to accept the proposed
ordinance drafted by the city attorney with a few minor amendments.
Superintendent Anderson said in a telephone
conversation today that she is 100 % behind the proposed ordinance
written by Bates. It is beautifully written and meets the needs.
She observed that often laws are written that need to have the bugs
worked out over time. She believes that it is strong enough not to
have to go back and revise it.
Helping students stay in school is a main
concern to the regional superintendents office. “Everybody’s child
becomes everybody’s hero or everybody’s problem,” she said.
[By JAN YOUNGQUIST]
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