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Highlands Today

Board Reaffirms Push For Tougher Truancy Laws

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By MARC VALERO | Highlands Today

Published: November 9, 2007

SEBRING — How many unexcused absences are too many?

School Board Member Andy Tuck is alarmed at the nearly 7,700 unexcused absences district-wide in the first nine weeks of school.

It's hard to hold teachers accountable when kids don't come to school, he said. Several students have already missed more than 10 days of school.

Highlands County School District data shows 43 middle school students (1.5 percent) were absent 10 or more days during the first nine weeks of the school year. At the elementary level, 57 students (1 percent) were absent 10 or more days during the same time period, Aug. 20 through Oct. 24.

At the high school level, only five students (one-tenth of 1 percent) were absent 10 or more days.

People want to believe that kids are skipping school, Tuck said, but when you really look at the numbers, the problem is at the elementary and middle school level.

Elementary students with unexcused absences shows that parents aren't taking their kids to school or putting them on the school bus, he said.

"If they are all 17 years old, then I could say, they are probably skipping school," Tuck said. "But kids in third grade and fourth grade are not skipping school, they are just not being brought to school."

Highlands County school officials, representatives from Orange County and local legislators met a couple of times in 2006 as the Children's Services Council's Subcommittee on Truancy. The objective was to change state truancy laws to reduce the number of days a student can be absent without a valid excuse before schools can impose consequences.

The Senate Pre-K-12 Chairman, Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, tabled the truancy bill initiated by that effort in March to allow time to review the current law and create a proposal that would be workable at all of the state's 67 school districts.

State law defines a habitual truant as a student who has 15 or more unexcused absences within 90 calendar days. With a rolling 90 days, a student can have as many as 45 days of unexcused absences before schools can take action.

In accordance with state law, the superintendent of schools may file a truancy petition after five unexcused absences within a calendar month or 10 days within a 90 calendar-day period.

The School Board of Highlands County approved a resolution Tuesday seeking clarification of the state's truancy laws.

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