Truancy: More Than An Attendance Issue

Truancy is a significant problem in school systems, but school social worker Jackie Trammell said truancy isn’t just bad behavior. It is an indicator of deeper problems in a child’s life.

School attendance is essential to a student’s education, so years ago, Georgia lawmakers established rules to monitor and regulate student attendance. Under Georgia law, school systems must have a truancy treatment team to address student absences.

Floyd County and Rome City schools’ truancy treatment teams are comprised of teachers, administration, counselors and social workers. The team’s goals aren’t to punish parents or students but to provide them with the necessary resources to keep them in school.

“If they’re not in school, you can’t teach them,” Floyd County Superintendent Glenn White said.

Every time a child is absent the school notifies the parent, to keep communication lines open. After a few unexcused absences, the school sends the parents a note. If the student continues missing school, Rome City Schools will perform a home visit to speak with the parent and assess the situation.

Once they reach five unexcused absences, the parents are brought in front of the truancy treatment team. In the meeting, the truancy team tries to ascertain what is happening in the child’s life that is leading to truancy.

“Once we get to the root of the problem, we can help the kid and parent,” Rome City Schools Superintendent Eric Holland said. “We understand the importance of kids being emotionally and socially well.”

In Floyd County Schools, many truancy cases result from poverty. The families that come before the truancy team often can’t afford proper medical care for themselves or their children, which keeps the students from school.

“It’s a difficult situation,” White said. “It’s all about getting to the parents and talking about what’s going on.”

Holland provided a different perspective on this issue, stating that most Rome City Schools truancies result from students skipping. The highest number of student absences occur between third and sixth grade, according to Holland.

The school system can provide parents with the necessary resources to help them through the truancy team. However, if the issue continues, the school must bring it to the Division of Family and Children Services. Once DFACS has the case it can move to the court system, if necessary.

The courts can’t do much in truancy cases, according to Floyd County Juvenile Court Judge Steven Bennett. The court’s only course of action is to file a protective order with the parent, temporarily removing the child from their custody.

After that, the court can sentence the parent to up to ten days in jail. Serving a parent with a protective order can be expensive for the courts. With the number of truancy cases he’s seen pass through the court last year, Bennett said, the county doesn’t have the budget for it.

Once a parent is issued a protective order, the court provides and pays for separate attorneys for the parent and the child.

Unfortunately, the number of truancy cases grows at the end of the school year. The teams see only a few cases at the beginning of the school year. On average, in the last few months of the year, the truancy teams see between 25 and 30 cases in one day.