Ditching school: It's not just for teenagers anymore

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

When a person thinks of truancy, images coming to mind could include Huck Finn or real-life teenagers in Larimer County.

Most folks would not think of 6- and 7-year-olds skipping school, but these youngsters are a big part of the truancy picture in Poudre School District.

"I deal with first-graders all the time," said Patti Stout, PSD's truancy officer.

She has been tracking down missing students for nine years. Before that, she was an animal control supervisor with the Larimer Humane Society, and she often laughs about the similarities in those two positions.

Stout's job is to get children back in school, whatever their age. Until 2007, Colorado state law specified that children had to attend school until age 16; attendance is now required until age 17. Truancy often leads to a student dropping out of school entirely, so there's a lot at stake for PSD in addressing this problem.

Children begin to attract the attention of school officials when they have missed 10 days of school. In PSD, there are 30 to 50 children in that category at any one time--per school. With 50 schools in the district, that's a lot of youngsters to keep track of, and Stout uses computerized attendance records to keep up with the task.

For children with an established truancy habit, Stout said, it's not unusual to have 60 absences in a year.

Juveniles are generally held accountable for their actions when they repeatedly miss school. But why are all those elementary-age children on the truancy rosters?

It's not that they're ditching, according to Stout. "Most of the parents know exactly where their kids are," she stated.

They're at home, watching TV or just hanging out. When younger children skip school, Stout said, it's generally a family issue. Sometimes it's the parents' drug or alcohol problems, and sometimes education is simply not a family value. In many cases, the parents didn't finish school themselves.

In some cases, the parents don't want to be the "bad guy" and make their children go to school. "They want someone else to do their job," Stout said. Stout's caseload includes many repeat-offender families.

Stout cited one case in which the mother had a health problem making it difficult to get up in the morning. Her young daughter had to get up, dressed and off to school herself.

"How can you expect a first-grader to get themselves up and go to school? It just breaks my heart," Stout lamented.

Many of these children do, however, make it to school on their own. "It's absolutely amazing to me," Stout said, considering the lack of support at home.

Prevention touted

Truancy is a pebble that causes many ripples, and PSD is not the only local entity concerned. Currently, an early prevention program is operating in eight elementary schools, three in PSD and five in Thompson School District.

Funded by the Larimer County Interagency Oversight Group, the program aims to teach young students about the importance of education and the consequences of truancy. Penny Hayden, who coordinates the program, rewards students for improving their attendance.

Michelle Brinegar, a chief deputy with the district attorney's office, said the prevention program has received rave reviews at the schools, and her office would like to see it expanded.

"Truancy is a huge concern for my office," she said, noting that it directly contributes to juvenile crime. "I wish the community as a whole would put more resources toward it."

Brinegar hopes the school district will be able to contribute funding to the program when the three-year grant period is over in 2010.

Court process

Stout's job is to encourage, cajole and try to understand what is causing the truancy problem. She spends a great deal of time on the phone with parents and teachers. If truancy continues, however, Stout does not hesitate to send parents to court.

The official truancy process begins when a student has 15 days of unexcused or questionable absences. The student's school sends two letters to parents before referring them to Stout's office. Stout then sends a certified letter asking parents to call her or to fix the problem. If there's no improvement --and no phone call--within two weeks, the parents are issued a court summons.

If parents don't show up for their court date, an arrest warrant is issued. For younger students the warrant is for parents only, but arrest warrants can include students in junior or senior high.

Magistrate Mary Joan Berenato handles the truancy cases in court. She generally orders children to go to school, and sometimes she orders an evaluation by the Department of Human Services to see if the family needs special services. She can also order parents to go to school with their children.

Berenato said she does not take a punitive approach. "I try to find out the reasons and try to find solutions," she said.

Sometimes, she said, students fall so far behind in school that they don't fit in anymore. Many socio-economic issues contribute to truancy, according to Berenato.

"Parents understand the value of an education, but they lack the skills to make it happen," she said.

Berenato would like the school system to take more responsibility for the truancy problem.

"The court system can assist, but it's not the answer to this problem," she said. "The schools and community need to invest money in a truancy prevention program, and they don't."

With cultural norms, poverty and other forces working against the school system, Stout is not optimistic that the truancy problem will be solved anytime soon.

"Every day I'm swamped with new kids," she said. "There really needs to be more than one of me."

On the bright side, however, her efforts have made a difference for some families in the district. Their children have stayed in school longer than they would have, and some have even graduated from high school.

In a more personal sphere of influence, Stout has definitely made an impression. Her five grandchildren know better than to skip school