By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Buchanan County Prosecuting Attorney's office is partnering with the St. Joseph School District to tackle a growing problem of truancy.
Since the coronavirus pandemic, the school district has struggled to get close to its goal of 90-percent attendance and has called on the prosecuting attorney's office to assist.
Prosecuting Attorney Michelle Davidson says her office has tools it can lean on to try to get parents to get their kids into school, including a major state law
"There’s a law out there that stateas a parent or guardian is required to make sure their children attend school on a regular basis,” Davidson tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “And so that is simply one of the tools that is in our toolbox that can be utilized to try to increase the attendance for some of these children that just aren’t getting to school like they should be.”
Davidson says there's no one specific problem that makes students miss school, saying some have legitimate medical reasons.
"What we’re focusing on though is the children that aren’t attending school and when we try to reach out to the parents to find out what’s going on we get ignored, we’re met with hostility on I just can’t get my child up in the morning, something along that line,” Davidson explains. “And to us that is clearly in violation of the law where a parent or guardian needs to be getting their children to school.”
Davidson says communication with parents is key to getting students back to school, helping to find solutions to fix the reasons that the child has not been in class.
The prosecuting attorney's office has designated a person to contact parents of students with attendance problems, focused on finding solutions to get the student in the classroom.
Davidson says the key to finding solutions is communication with families
"If it's a transportation issue, let the school know so that they can work with the parent, if it’s a health issue and they just haven’t been communicating, contact the school, provide the information to the school so they know what’s going on with the child,” Davidson says. “Communication is key, prosecution is the last thing we want to have to do.”
Missouri law requires parents to guarantee children to attend school on a regular basis. A conviction can end in a jail sentence of 15 days or a fine of up to 750 dollars.
Since the coronavirus pandemic, the school district has struggled to get close to its goal of 90% attendance, which prompted the expanded partnership with the prosecuting attorney's office.
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