truancy

8 Stories

Don't Call Them Truant Officers Anymore
Don't Call Them
Truant Officers Anymore
longform
Jan 14, 2024 3:55 PM CST

Don't Call Them Truant Officers Anymore

Schools turn absenteeism problem over to private companies and 'professional student advocates'

(Newser) - That school absenteeism remains sky-high after the pandemic has been well documented . But a story by ProPublica and the New Yorker adds a new wrinkle to the narrative: More schools across the US are turning to private companies to try to get kids back in the classroom. And their focus...

Teen Was Leaving School. Cop Threatened to Shoot

Florida high school student had an orthodontist appointment

(Newser) - William Miller, 17, was in a pickup truck trying to leave the campus of a Florida high school when, amid an argument with a school resource officer and a school discipline assistant, the officer—a deputy with the Pasco County Sheriff's Office—threatened to shoot the teen. Miller's...

Her Kid Missed 5 Weeks of School. Mom Is Going to Jail

Michigan's Brittany Horton sentenced on a truancy charge

(Newser) - After a 6-year-old Michigan girl missed a bunch of school without the appropriate notes from home, the school tried to meet up with her mother to find out what was going on. After school officials say letters to Brittany Horton went unanswered and she didn't show up to meetings,...

Family Loses Welfare Because of Girl's Cancer

She couldn't go to school, so Michigan cut off benefits

(Newser) - When Martha describes how her 12-year-old daughter, Lisa, suffered while battling brain cancer—seizures, strokes, more than two years in and out of hospitals—it doesn't seem at all surprising that Lisa wouldn't have been up for attending school during this time. But as her mom (using pseudonyms)...

Texas Remedy for Skipping School: Send Teens to Jail
Texas Remedy for Skipping School: Send Teens to Jail
investigation
Apr 24, 2015 11:48 AM CDT

Texas Remedy for Skipping School: Send Teens to Jail

BuzzFeed finds at least 1K jailed over the last 3 years on charges related to truancy

(Newser) - High school students in Texas who make a habit of ditching school aren't just risking the wrath of an angry principal, they're going to jail. Actual, adult jail. A BuzzFeed investigation finds that more than 1,000 teens have been ordered to prison in the last three years...

Guy Skips Work for 24 Years, Gets Fired

AK Verma, an engineer in India, last showed for work in 1990

(Newser) - A man who ditched work for 24 years has finally lost his job—apparently a sign that India is cracking down on government bureaucrats who avoid office time, Reuters reports. AK Verma, a senior engineer at the Central Public Works Department, last showed up for work in December 1990. The...

Boy, 14, Arrested for Refusing to Go to School

'Do what you gotta do,' he tells cops

(Newser) - A 14-year-old boy in Florida really, really didn't want to go to school and was willing to accept the consequences: The St. Augustine teen was handcuffed and arrested after his mother called the cops, having first tried taking away his phone and disconnecting the Internet, reports the Smoking Gun...

Mom Jailed 180 Days for Kids' Truancy

She broke California's law on unexcused school absences

(Newser) - A California mother who let her two young kids miss a huge chunk of school last year for no good reason is paying the price in jail. Lorraine Cuevas, 34, already has begun serving her 180-day sentence for violating the state's truancy law, reports KMPH . Kings County school officials...

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