Michigan House of Representatives
EDUCATION COMMITTEE HEARING
Lansing
February 12, 2008 - 10:30am
Remarks Given by
Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton
on House Bills 5381 and 5382
Good Morning!
Chairman Melton, Representative Clack, other members of the Committee on Education.
My name is David Leyton, and I am the Prosecutor for Genesee County. I want to thank Representative Clack for inviting me to be here this morning to discuss House Bills 5381 and 5382. Both pieces of legislation deal with an issue that is very important to me and that issue is combating truancy in our schools.
I have made fighting truancy a top priority in my administration and much of my purpose for doing so has been to ensure that children receive a proper education so that they can have opportunities in life that only a proper education can provide.
So, I applaud the efforts of Representative Clack and the members of this Committee for addressing this very important issue which affects not only children and schools but really our entire community. For it is oftentimes those individuals who lack a proper, formal education who we see coming through the criminal justice system. It is those individuals without a proper formal education who we see on the welfare rolls and who rely so heavily on other social service agencies and programs. Times are tough enough in our society, especially here in Michigan, and not having an educational foundation makes it that much tougher for individuals.
So when a young person starts missing school on a regular basis and becomes chronically truant, it is like having the rug pulled out right from underneath them. Students who develop a truancy pattern in the younger grades quickly fall behind their peers. Each week and month that goes by without some sort of intervention puts them further and further behind.
Soon, the years start to pile up. Some of these students are simply advanced to the next grade level. Others are held back and must remain in the same grade level while their friends and peers move up the ladder. Regardless of the situation, chronically truant students often get caught up in a whirlpool of quick sand and they spin faster and faster down a drain to where, one day, they wake up and find themselves 16 years old and decide to drop out of school. They become another casualty; another person without any real hopes or dreams of making it in the world. Too often, they end up as a case file in my office.
Fortunately, all is not doom and gloom. Far more students attend school on a regular basis than don’t. And for those students who find themselves in a pattern of truancy, there are programs out there trying to make a difference and trying to help these young people get on the right track in life.
In Genesee County, we have taken a pro-active approach to combating truancy by putting together a team called the “Genesee County Attendance Task Force.” It is comprised of educators, social service agency professionals, law enforcement officials, and other interested parties. The Task Force meets once a month throughout the year to monitor truancy issues and to develop programs that attack school attendance issues.
The Attendance Task Force recognizes that in order to address the issue of truancy, it is important to understand that there are basically two groups of truant students. The first group of students is typically younger; students in grades K-4. These students, for the most part, enjoy school. For them, school is where they get to socialize with their friends and advance their natural curiosity of the world and they take great interest in learning things. The problem of truancy with these kids is oftentimes rooted in the home.
These younger students who have chronic truancy issues come from homes where a number of things might be occurring. It could be a situation as simple as a parent being lazy and not being disciplined enough to get their kids to school on time if at all. The parents might be alcoholics or have drug addictions. There might be some mental health issues at work. Some parents simply like having their children at home and don’t want to see them go away to school. There are dozens of reasons why young children are truant.
The other group of students I alluded to a moment ago oftentimes involves older students. These are students anywhere from 5th grade up to 10th grade. They get on the bus or their parent’s drop them off at the door and they never make it into school or they go in one door and out the other. For them, school is a drag. They’d rather be anywhere than confined to the four walls of a classroom.
Given that there are basically these two different groups of students who have truancy issues, we need to recognize that different approaches must be used to attack the root cause of the truancy.
It wouldn’t be fair to punish the child in the first group for the failure of the parents to get them to school.
And it wouldn’t be quite right to punish the parents for the second group of students who fail to stay in school.
So, in Genesee County, we use a two-prong approach to address these two separate groups of issues. My truancy initiative, which I call “Project Chalkboard,” is aimed at children in grades 1st through 4th and holds parents responsible for their children’s attendance under the State’s compulsory education law.
My office works closely with elementary schools in trying to get a message across to the parents that they risk being prosecuted and even going to jail if they don’t get their children to school.
The way the program works is rather simple, although it does require a commitment of time and follow-through by the schools and law enforcement. Each school district has its own guidelines and protocol as to how it deals with truancy issues. But, once the districts have exhausted all attempts at having an impact, including letters, phone calls, home visits, and parent-teacher conferences, they know that they can contact my office for a heavier paddle, if you will.
My office will send the parents a letter warning them that they stand possible prosecution if their child’s attendance does not immediately improve to the school’s standards. And if my warning is not heeded, then I refer the case to the police who conduct an investigation like they would with other crimes. After their investigation is complete, they bring it to my office for a warrant.
The program has been successful. In the 67th District Court in Davison, the Judge actually sent a father to jail for 30 days and it received coverage in the local newspaper. The message was clear and the message was strong: as a parent, you must get your child to school or you will be prosecuted.
Now, as for the other group of students, those who willfully defy their parents and the educational system and who choose to play video games at a friend’s house or smoke a cigarette on the street corner rather than learn about math, science, and English in the classroom, we have a program for them too. It is called Attendance Court.
Attendance Court was developed by Family Court Judge Duncan Beagle. Attendance Court is an effort similar to Drug Court and its primary focus is to keep the student out of the formal court process and provide intervention to the student and his or her family.
Once a student is placed in Attendance Court, they are assigned a caseworker who will meet with the family and determine what barriers are preventing the youth from attending school on a regular basis.
The biggest impact of Attendance Court is that it illuminates the seriousness of attending school by way of having a Judge in a black robe getting involved. Initially, the students must appear at mandatory court hearings on a weekly basis. Their caseworker reports to the Judge about the student’s attendance, behavior, and other progress being made in the student’s life. As the case goes along and steady improvement is made, attendance at Attendance Court becomes bi-weekly and then monthly.
The real success of Attendance Court is that it provides a direct intervention by the Court system into the student’s life. The Judge provides feedback to the students and can also offer stern advice as necessary. The ultimate authority of the Court is that a student who does not comply with the Court’s orders regarding attendance could find themselves in contempt and be sent to the regional detention center for residential supervision and education.
Together, the “Project Chalkboard” and “Attendance Court” programs provide a solid reinforcement to the efforts of educators who already have enough on their plate in teaching our young people. For your information, I have brought along a copy of the “Attendance Intervention Procedure” manual that has been developed by the Genesee County Attendance Task Force. Inside, it lists the details of how Project Chalkboard and Attendance Court operate.
The legislation offered by Representative Clack would be another helpful tool as we try to deal with the serious issue of truancy. I believe that the programs in Genesee County that I just spoke about would fit in nicely with House Bill 5382.
Additionally, I think the companion legislation, House Bill 5381, which ties drivers licenses to regular school attendance would add more teeth to our truancy laws. After all, every kid dreams about getting their drivers license and if good attendance becomes part of the requirement for getting a license, I am confident that it can only help to improve our school attendance rates.
In closing, I want to thank Representative Clack for inviting me to participate in today’s hearing and I want to thank Chairman Melton and the rest of the members of the Committee on Education for allowing me the opportunity to address such an important topic.