MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Parents stand before the bench in Judge Loyce Ryan’s court Thursday. These parents were there because their children, for unexplained reasons, have missed five or more days of school.
The parents have been hauled into court for Violation of the Compulsory Attendance Law, or not making sure their kids are attending school.
Outside court, Sholanda Crowder isn’t happy about being summoned to 201 Poplar, fingerprinted, and hauled before the judge. The court said her three kids have missed eight or more days of schools unexcused. She says they haven’t.
Reporter: “They haven’t missed any days?”
Crowder: “No. Nothing, but my daughter in kindergarten.”
Reporter: “So what do you think about being called down here?”
Crowder: “I just think they shouldn’t do parents like that.”
This is the latest effort to change a troubling trend in Memphis, truant kids.
“We have to use all the tools available to us to address this problem because if kids aren’t in school, nothing good is happening,” Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich said.
The DA’s office asked Ryan to take these cases of parents who have ignored letters about their truant kids.
In the 2011 and 2012 school year, around 12,000 in the Shelby County School system missed five or more school days. In 2013, that jumped 100 percent to more than 26,000. That was also the year city and county schools consolidated, which highlights a dilemma.
It’s hard to pinpoint just how many students are actually truant, especially since thousands may now be in municipal districts, home schooled or moved away. It’s why the DA’s office wants a weekly tracking system.
Ron Pope oversees the Shelby County Schools Truancy Department and says overall truancy numbers are down. He even led to the district getting an International Truancy and Drop Out Prevention Award.
“We were able to reduce our truancy numbers over the last four years by 60 percent. As a result of this, next year we will host the International Association of Truancy and Drop Out Prevention Conference here in the city,” Pope said.
We also know Shelby County Schools made cuts to its Truancy Program. This school year, it closed three Regional Truancy Centers. Four truancy support staff members were also cut and the four Truancy Officers who worked the entire school system had their work hours shortened.
It’s why parents are being pushed so hard.
“Parents can be arrested for truancy. That’s not what we want, we want kids in school,” Pope said.
They are also targeting those schools with the highest truancy rates and sending in counselors to find out what’s going on. They’re going to schools like Raleigh-Egypt, where many elementary, middle and high school students just aren’t showing up.
“We actually have counselors that go into the particular schools that are targeted, middle and elementary schools, and actually pull the rolls daily or weekly, every two or three days to check the attendance of the children,” Ryan said.
They determine which kids and families should be mentored.
Last school year, 485 students and parents were referred to the Truancy Reduction Program. They were asked to meet with counselors. If they didn’t, the parents were summoned to meet the Judge.
“Somebody has to be the hammer. As I tell them, you don’t want me in your family, in your household, dictating what goes on and you definitely don’t want the Department of Children Services, because that’s the next step,” Ryan said.
Many parents hauled into court, who had their cases dismissed once they explained their situation, wish there was a better process.
“It wasn’t an issue, just miscommunication on my son’s behalf,” one of the parents told us.
As of last year, 47 parents had been summoned to court for violation of compulsory attendance since the effort started in 2006.
Ryan says she has not had to arrest any of the parents because most comply once they appear in court.
If they don’t, they face ten days in jail and a $50 fine for each day their kids are out of school.
Now the District Attorney is pushing to have more cases heard at 201 Poplar instead of Juvenile Court so they can be handled quicker.