Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Law that holds parents accountable for kids truancy applied differently across Southern California | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

Law that holds parents accountable for kids truancy applied differently across Southern California | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:


Law that holds parents accountable for kids truancy applied differently across Southern California

A student reads in the classroom. ; Credit: Jonathan Pobre/Flickr CC
Mercer 2083Last week, six parents in Orange County who had let their kids miss up to 22 days from school were charged with two misdemeanors: contributing to the delinquency of a minor and failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance. This last charge was born from a new law targeting parents who can’t seem to get their kids to school.
“It’s unfortunate in a lot of senses that we have to resort to prosecution," said Orange County Deputy District Attorney Frank Acosta. "But a lot of the time it’s the message that has to be sent, that there is a violation of the law and we have to follow the law.”
Acosta also said parents need to hear that they could go to jail for one year and pay a $2,000 fine if they continually refuse help getting their kids to class. Five Orange County parents arrested two years ago received