Truancy will take at least a generation to fix
June 2nd, 2008 at 02:13pm Wally Haas
Rockford public schools’ chronic truancy rates have been double the state average for quite a while. You have to admire Mayor Larry Morrissey’s tenacity in attacking the issue, but it will take more than truancy courts and better access to information to fix this problem.
Most truants come from homes where the parents don’t value education. Those parents also grew up in households that didn’t value education. Until truant kids are convinced that education is the way out and up, change will be incremental.
You need to get to the root cause of truancy, which is much more difficult than ticketing and fining kids who miss school. Give them a reason to be there and give them a reason to stay. That might take a generation or two to take hold.
It’s better to be proactive, but you need the reactive steps also.
Get the kids back in school and who knows, maybe they’ll learn something.
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1 Comment Add your own
1. marilu bechard | June 3rd, 2008 at 5:12 am
I’m just finishing my first year as a teacher, and I have noticed that many truant students have a good reason for skipping school. A good number of them are chronic suspendees. That means that they are frequently suspended for behavioral problems in school. District policy is set up so that bad behavior=suspension. Once they fall behind their peers academically, they want to avoid class because they don’t know whats going on. They then begin a vicious cycle. District policy needs to be examined. I am not suggesting these students be left in the classroom for teachers to deal with. All it takes is one chronic disruptive student to foil learning goals for others. These students need a place to go. Fresh Start is good, but the waiting list is too long and many are lost in the system…sometimes even expelled before help can arrive.
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