School district plans to address rising truancy rate

By BRIAN McBRIDE
News Chief

BARTOW -- Polk County School District Attendance Director Jim Chambers worked 506 truancy cases last year. And he's already on pace to break that number before the end of this school term.

That's leading district staff to feverishly search for a remedy to the rising trend that is slashing at both a student's critical educational consistency and district funding. They've called in reinforcements in the form of the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Department of Children and Families. All three teams will meet Monday to brainstorm new approaches on put-ting those students back behind their desks in a more efficient and effective manner.

"As a school teacher and a principal, it's a daily nightmare," Chambers said. "Ultimately, the kids falls behind and then it's the school's fault."

Often times, the source of truancy cases is lack of reinforcement from the home, Chambers said. When love and support isn't introduced to a child at a young age, it may lead to behavior problems, which tend to fester in single- family homes, based on Chambers' experience in his past six years with the school system. Both parents are rarely involved during truancy meetings and often make excuses because they cannot control their child's actions, he said.

Truancy also affects funding the district receives for full-time enrollments. The fewer students in school, the less money in district pockets.

One avenue expected to be explored Monday is taking action against non-compliant parents at a quicker pace than current practice. Chambers stressed that once the district has exhausted all communication efforts with parents to get their kids in school, the only alternative is pressing charges against them.

"The problem with that is the length of time it takes to do that," Chambers said. "I'm hoping we can come together and see what we can do to shorten the length of time it takes to get non-compliant parents in court. We don't want to arrest anybody. We just want them to be accountable."