A new Truancy Task Force has been created to make sure students in the Selma City School System get to school.

It is good to see Selma City Schools getting serious about kids attending school. The new task force is said to be an aggressive truancy program that will bring results. After all, if children aren’t in school, they can’t learn.

At the same time, it is sad that such strong measures are needed to make sure children get to school on time &045;&045; or at all.

We would like to ask one question:

What are the parents doing?

If parents, or those raising children, were doing their jobs, then there would be little or no need for the truancy program. Instead, what we have are taxpayer dollars funding a program that makes sure a child is seated in school each day.

That’s a sad statement about parenting. And an expensive one.

School administrators are frustrated by children who come to school and say their parents didn’t wake them up in time to get to class. At the same time, the parents seem to be unaware there is a problem.

There is a big problem and the problem lies at home. There are parents who are failing. There are parents failing at doing what is a basic duty. And now those parents may have less incentive to get the kids up and in the classroom because a truancy program will take care of the problem for them.

We see this time and time again. People can’t manage their own lives so the government has to step in and help them. What we end up with is a growing bureaucracy and a dependence on programs and agencies designed to raise children.

It is possible that the new truancy program can make a difference. It can make a difference if it can put pressure squarely back on the parent. If parents who habitually can’t get their kids to school are held accountable, then this program could be a winner.

Those parents need to feel the pressure of our society, through its laws and courts. Those parents need to change.

Those parents need to grow up and stop failing. Their actions are costly to their children and to our society.