MontCo looks to law to stem truancy

Law enforcement officials speaking before the council’s education and public safety committees said police officers lack enough authority to approach potential truants wandering the malls or the streets. They fear a civil suit for false arrest, said Montgomery State’s Attorney John McCarthy.

Assistant Police Chief Betsy Davis said officers are left without recourse when potential truants fight back.

McCarthy told council members that Baltimore has a daytime curfew law, banning kids from wandering the streets when they ought to be in school.

“I hope you’ll work with us to draft model legislation that would give our police the authority they’re comfortable with, and maybe give our kids a nice ride back to school,” Councilman Roger Berliner said.

But even as officials worked for ways to more effectively catch truants once they have picked up the habit, school officials took a fair share of the blame for not catching students before they start skipping.

“Is the lack of adequate academic preparation the ultimate cause?” asked Councilman Marc Elrich, a former teacher in the system. “Why go to school if you can’t function there?”

Education committee Chairwoman Valerie Ervin criticized the schools for “holes in the daily taking of attendance,” especially in high schools.

“By the time these kids get to high school and are already habitually absent, there comes the question of this ‘push-out’ phenomenon,” referring to teachers and administrators who indirectly encourage students not to come to school anymore.

School officials stressed the success of recent efforts to track potential truants more closely, including alerts when a student reaches 10 absences, instead of the 20 required for the “chronic absence” label.

The number of chronically absent students declined in the past two years, from about 8 percent of students in 2008 to about 7 percent in 2009.

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