"On one thing, Newsom and I agree criminalizing chronically absent students and their families is a bad idea. The attendance crisis in schools is real. Nearly one in four students nationwide is chronically absent. Absences put pressure on students, who fall behind, and on teachers, who are left to fill the gaps. Some lawmakers believe that solving chronic absenteeism, also known as truancy, can be achieved through courtrooms and criminal codes."
"As a public school principal, I was always concerned about chronic absenteeism. I spent many hours with parents and students trying to understand why school wasn't working for them. Some teachers wanted me to turn to the courts. But legal action never fixed the problem. It was simply a way to hand off a problem schools didn't feel equipped to solve. The sentiment was understandable. The solution was not."
Governor Gavin Newsom opposes school choice and issued a moratorium on some new charter schools in California, while a Utah think tank employee supports alternatives like charter schools. Both oppose criminalizing chronically absent students and their families. The attendance crisis affects nearly one in four students nationwide and causes students to fall behind and teachers to fill gaps. Punitive truancy laws use courts and criminal codes but fail to address underlying causes, often prompting families to remove children from public schools. A former public school principal reports that legal action did not fix absences and amounted to handing off a problem schools felt unequipped to solve.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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