New
truancy law has flaws in jurisdiction and enforcement,
says school
official
By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer
GALLUP — While a tougher state law on student truancy
that takes effect next month may look good on paper, some local school
officials fear
its promise will be held back by realities on the ground.
Although the governing board of Gallup-McKinley County Schools will
have to update the district's truancy policy to fall in line with the
new
state law, it's not
convinced the changes will make much of a difference.
Beefing up existing truancy regulations, the New Mexico Legislature increased
the fines and jail-time parents of truant students will face. Under House
Bill 106, if the local juvenile probation office determines that the parent
is somehow
responsible for the truancy of a student who's collected more than 10 unexcused
absences in one semester and the absences continue after written notice from
the school district, the parent can face a minimum fine of $100. That's up
from the current $25 minimum. Under the new law, they could also end up spending
up
to 90 days in jail. Continued absences could lead to a $500 fine and up to
six months behind bars.
With all its interest in holding parents more accountable for their children,
however, the state did not forget about the students themselves. Students
can have their driver's licenses suspended for up to 90 days their first
time before
the Children's Court and for up to one year on subsequent visits.
Gallup-McKinley school officials understand that students who aren't in the
classroom aren't being taught. It's a connection they like the state officials
who backed
the law and the legislators who passed it have understood all the better
since the federal government's gotten more serious about tying funding to
academic
success.
As Gallup-McKinley Superintendent Karen White put it, "you can't teach kids
if they're not in school."
They don't all, however, believe this law is the best way to get them there.
Robert Gintowt, Gallup-McKinley's hearing authority officer, has been discussing
truancy-fighting measures with a team of school officials, law enforcement
officers and lawyers since September. Speaking with the local district attorney's
office
and law enforcement agencies has left him with little hope that they'll be
enforcing the new law. It may seem strange that they would refuse to enforce
a state law,
he acknowledged, but that's the message he said he's been given.
"They are very reluctant to do anything," Gintowt said.
State law may threaten driver's license suspension, he said, "but the court
system in Gallup, New Mexico, will not do that."
Once students turn 16, Gintowt said he was told, they are no longer forbidden
by law to drop out of school. If students don't have to be in school, then,
courts find it hard to penalize them for skipping.
White, a former police officer herself, believes they're simply too consumed
with weightier problems.
"Truancy has just been a low priority for juvenile probation officers," she
said.
The problem, she and others believe, is also one of jurisdiction. Navajo
students, whether they attend school on the reservation or live on Navajo
Nation land
and attend school off the reservation, fall under the jurisdiction of tribal
courts,
where the state's truancy laws don't follow them.
If the cops and courts won't help, Gintowt said, that leaves the districts
to their own devices.
Board member Mavis Price, a member of the team looking at the truancy problem,
said the group is considering reinstating teen courts, whereby students judge
and sentence their fellow peers in truancy cases, throughout the district
as one tactic. Price said her experience with such methods suggests that
students'
peers tend to be harder on them than adults and that they're more likely
to take the decisions to heart.
Although the board tabled a decision on incorporating the new law into district
policy Monday evening, it will have to do so eventually, likely before the
start of the fall semester at the latest. Price expected the truancy team
to have the
legally mandated changes, however unlikely they are to be enforced, along
with more realistic, self-reliant measures ready for incorporation into district
policy by the board as soon as early July. |
Wednesday
June 23, 2004
Selected
Stories:
Lightning
fires hit Zuni Mountains, Cibola County
Under new management — Red Rock
Park
New truancy law has flaws in jurisdiction
and enforcement, says school official
Boys and Girls Club move imminent
Missing rez girl believed runaway
Deaths |
