commentary by Patrick H. Moore
Well known fact: Texas is the largest of the 50 states.
Little known fact(s): In a recent year, Texas jailed 120 school kids for missing school (truancy). The Dallas County truancy court collected nearly $3 million in fines. 67 students age 17 and older were sent to jail because of truancy violations; 53 students younger than age 17 were remanded to juvenile detention centers.
As has become a trend in recent years in several of our more heavy-handed states, students who have missed too much school have frequently been hauled out of class in handcuffs. This is ironic since the problem has been getting them to come to school in the first place. In many instances, the kids were held in jail for days at a time. Individual students have been fined more than $1,000 for missing more than 10 days of school.
This seeming abuse of power on the part of the authorities was made possible by a revamping and strengthening of the state’s truancy laws in 2003. It has also led to a range of abuses, according to a complaint filed Wednesday with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The complaint, filed by a coalition of advocacy groups for young people and the disabled, targets the Dallas, Garland, Mesquite, and Richardson school districts in Texas and urges the Justice Department to force reforms and “declare the practice of criminally prosecuting children as adults for truancy” a violation of their constitutional rights.
Naturally, some school officials, lawmakers, and judges think that the rigid enforcement system is just “jim-dandy” and has led to improved attendance.
A Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins defended the program in a recent statement:
“The Dallas County system offers the best chance for truant students to get back in class and graduate,” said Jenkins, adding that the courts are staffed by attorneys who specialize in juvenile justice issues, and make use of agencies who work to solve the underlying issues behind the truancy of students.
In one recent year, the Texas adult courts handled 113,000 truancy cases.
Naturally, when hauled into court to face truancy or lateness charges, the offending students are not provided with legal counsel. There are lawyers in the courtroom, however. The judge is a lawyer as is the presiding member of the district attorney’s office. The student being charged is only represented if his or her family can afford to hire a lawyer.
Naturally, the defendants (students) are required to pay court fees “even if they prevail in fighting the accusations,” which, it can be argued, discourages the students and their families “from exercising their right to a full hearing.”
Naturally, “the complaint asserts that the program unfairly targets minorities and underprivileged students, and routinely puts youngsters in jail rather than keeping them in school.”
This is not to say that truancy among juveniles is not a problem. The question becomes how to solve the problem. In the 1990s, the Texas state legislature made “failure to attend school” a Class C misdemeanor, “which meant that children could be tried as adults for missing school.”
The law requires Texas schools to report students to the truancy court if he or she has 10 or more unexcused absences within a six-month period. Although, as stated above, these laws have resulted in up to 120 students being jailed in a single school year, what usually happens, according to the complaint, is that when the students appear in court, “they are often pressured to plead guilty and accept fines of anywhere from $80 to $500 rather than go to trial, pay additional court fees, and risk jail time.” And should a student fail to make a court appearance or pay their fines on time, they then face being arrested and jailed. Among the 50 states, only Wyoming has similar statutes.
Commentary
In passing, I would like to note how much things have changed. Things weren’t nearly so heavy-handed back in the day. When I was a child in school in rural Wisconsin back in the old cold war days when air raid drills were a simple fact of life and we still had ink wells in our desks, I would typically miss around 30 days of school each year up through at least the 6th grade. I remember looking at old report cards and noting that for some unknown reason, I only missed 13 days of school in the 2nd grade. For me, that was shockingly good attendance — an unprecedented display of my sober commitment to education. What did the authorities do about my appallingly bad attendance and clear disrespect for THE LAW? They did nothing. They didn’t even seem to notice. We all got along just fine.
How did I turn out education-wise? Well, truthfully, it did take me a while to climb firmly atop the college bandwagon. I didn’t even go to college until I’d turned 30. But in the long run, I took full advantage of the glorious educational opportunity provided by our great American universities. I graduated summa cum laude and won my share of awards. Later, I even taught community college for several years.
So, viewed objectively, missing a great deal of school didn’t seem to hurt me one bit. In fact, it probably helped me. I had a hella good time being a truant out there on our farm roaming our fields, herding our geese, and generally being an All-American schoolboy on a holiday.
To read the entire article, which appeared in Alter Net via Pro Publica, click on this link: