The State Board of Education will vote on a regulation in their upcoming meeting that could send parents to jail as a result of their child’s excessive truancy.

If passed, the new law states that a child, as well as a parent, who has seven or more unexcused absences is subject to having a complaint/petition filed in court.

Parents found in violation could be charged with a misdemeanor: contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The parent subsequently can receive a fine and even jail time at the discretion of the presiding judge.

Lorraine Capers, Truant officer for Selma City Schools says the law is needed.

“This [regulation] will make the parents more responsible,” said Capers. “Sometimes when you make a child responsible without making the parent as well, it doesn’t work.”

According to Lynn Henderson, Selma City Schools attendance coordinator, under the current regulation each local school board sets their own standards for dealing with truancy and Selma’s current laws are similar to the proposed statewide changes.

She says the modification will only make the law uniform across the state.

“We already regulate truancy locally,” says Henderson. “Our attendance record is good overall – the rate is above 95 percent. We just want to make sure the other 5 percent who are habitually truant are stopped.”

Capers said a major issue at many schools in addition to truancy is lateness. Her office currently sends a letter home to the parent after a child is late to school four consecutive times. The letter will request that the parent attend a conference with the truant officer.

“I send out no less than 500 tardy letters per month,” said Capers. “About half of the parents respond, and of that half about 75 percent do better. ”

The law would only affect children who were truant, but students with a trend for tardiness, eventually move up to “skipping” all together according to Capers.

According to Henderson, Selma City Schools will comply with the law. She says that the resolution points out that truancy is the start of a life of crime for many youth and she wants to be sure that Selma city school students are “above board”.

Not everyone agrees with the new law however. Child advocate, Faya Toure says the law is flawed because it fails to look at the things that lead to truancy like miseducation.

“They are looking at the cancer and not at the cause of the cancer,” said Toure. “It is criminal to criminalize parents who can’t force their children to attend schools that are not preparing them to be economically self-sufficient and independent thinkers.”

She said that youth have been failed not by the teachers or the school system, but by parents and citizens who don’t demand an end to miseducation.

“That’s what leads to truancy.” said Toure.

Capers would not put an actual number on the amount of daily absences there are in Selma, but one parent with children at Byrd elementary school and CHAT academy said she sees the number of students who are out of school everyday and agrees that something should be done, but stops short of agreeing that parents should be made responsible by handing out jail time.

“I do believe that kids need to be monitored at all times or as much as possible,” said the mother of two age seven and 12. “But I don’t know if locking parents up is the way to solve the problem, there’s got to be a different way.”

As a truant officer who sees children out and about all day long, Capers suggests a community effort.

“Adults who see kids in the barbershops and beauty salons or in the mall and in stores during school hours need to call the truancy office or call the police department.”

Capers also warns seniors to be wary, “Things like senior skip day are not sanctioned by the school system. If I catch seniors out on that day I will pick them up and they can be arrested.”

Selma school superintendent James Carter said that the school system was doing a lot to prevent truancy already, but anything that could help them with that effort would be greatly appreciated.

Both Henderson and Capers stress that they do not want to have to arrest parents or students.

“We just want to abide by the law,” said Henderson. “If we have to arrest parents for children being truant then that’s something that we’ll have to do.”

The State School Board meeting will be held on Thursday November 18th at 9:30 am in the auditorium of the Gordon Persons Building at 50 N. Ripley St. in Montgomery, AL.

For more information call (334) 242-2900.