By Desiree Taylor

The Selma Times-Journal

First, tardiness, then lateness several times throughout the week and finally, unexcused absences are recorded in the attendance book, sometimes resulting in bad grades.

Truancy is a problem that places negative labels on students. It is a slight problem in Dallas County.

Dr. Fannie McKenzie, superintendent for Dallas County Schools, said only 1 to 2 percent of Dallas County’s more than 4,000 students are truant.

“It’s not the entire population,” McKenzie said. “If a student misses one day, we call home and if a student misses more than three days we turn them over to a truancy officer, the procedure is the same for all students (middle and high school). Those who are truant are truant and we try to deal with those students head on.”

According to the National Center for School Engagement, any unexcused absence is considered truancy and states determine their own school attendance laws based on the age a student is required to attend school, the age a child can legally drop out and number of excused absences allowed before a student is considered truant.

“According to the Alabama Code of 1975, a student has three days after he or she returns to school to bring a handwritten excuse from a parent or guardian,” said Ronald Peoples, attendance coordinator and truant officer for Dallas County. “A student can miss one day according to the state of Alabama, after that, you are considered truant.”

Peoples also said truancy is not as big a not problem with elementary students as it is with other students because students in high school tend to have jobs and cars.

“The higher the grade level, the truancy number tends to elevate,” Peoples said. “Parents seem to be more involved at the elementary school level than at the middle school or high school level.”

Bob Armstrong, Dallas County district judge and juvenile court judge, said he hasn’t seen many truancy cases in Selma because truant officers, like Peoples and Lorraine Capers of Selma High School, weed out perpetrators immediately.

“We get truancy cases at the entry-level,” Armstrong said. “Students who are truant will have to perform community service, have a curfew and write an apology letter. For those students who are consistently truant, we will put their parents in jail until they straighten up.”

Armstrong said in the past, he has placed a truant student’s parent in jail for more than 12 hours, which corrected the student’s behavior. Armstrong also said “teen court”, which places offenders in front of a jury of peers and adult judges, is also a deterrent.

“It’s a psychological factor that comes with kids having to face their peers, especially if they are just as hard as adults in punishing them,” Armstrong said. “Teen court works.”

The NCSE said truancy is an early warning sign of juvenile delinquency, educational failure or even dropping out. Truants also tend to have low self-esteem and experience higher rates of rejection and criticism than non-truants.

Peoples said more parent and community involvement are keys to solving truancy.

“Parents need to be active in their child’s educational experience,” Peoples said. “You have some parents who work two jobs and aren’t able to make it to their child’s school and then, there are parents who just don’t care. Parents must motivate their children to do the right thing and if a person in the community sees a school-aged child in the streets, he or she should call authorities.”

McKenzie agrees with Peoples and said parents should set expectations for their children.

“Talk to your children and encourage them to go to school and stay there,” McKenzie said. “Parents should check on their children periodically throughout the school day and come to parent-teacher meetings. Parents should also leave up-to-date contact information for the school.”

Donald Jefferson, superintendent of Selma City Schools was unavailable for comment.