Truant students will not longer be suspended for skipping school or dragged into court when their absences start to become a habit.
A new state law will “decriminalize” truancy and force schools to try to bring students back to class before running to juvenile court.
Legislators hope that treating hooky as a problem to be resolved, not a crime to be punished, can find ways to draw students back to school. That would free up courts to deal with the most serious cases and hopefully have students returning to school to learn, graduate and have productive lives.
The just-passed law is awaiting the signature of Gov. John Kasich.
“I hope this will keep kids in school and help find out why they are not in school,” said State Rep. Andrew Brenner, chair of the House Education Committee, who worked on the bill all year.
Brenner said that finding the “root cause” of a child’s absence may allow the school to resolve an issue, like transportation, meals or clean clothes, or direct a student and their families to help for more serious issues.
“Are they in a gang?” Brenner asked. “Are they doing drugs? Is there some reason behind it? Then find a solution, so a kid is no longer truant.”
State Sen. Peggy Lehner, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said absences can lead to students dropping out, which leads to a series of other social ills and costs. Juvenile courts, she said, shouldn’t be the first option.
“This puts the burden back on the schools, the counselors and (school) intervention teams,” Lehner said. “We want them to try other things…we want to give them legal permission to do that.”
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