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Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Ind. Courts - Perry County’s new truancy court begins Oct. 2
Kevin Koelling of the Perry County News reports:
“The law says if you have 10 unexcused absences, you will be seeing me Tuesdays in truancy court,” Perry Circuit Judge Lucy Goffinet said Thursday about a program set to begin Oct. 2.“When I first took the bench in January, I was seeing referrals about absences in September,” she said.
A parent will have to accompany each student appearing before the judge, she said, adding that consequences can begin with community service and curfews.
“In worst-case scenarios, the kids can be detained,” Goffinet said. She didn’t know whether a truancy court has been tried here before, but said in the opinion of local school superintendents, it’s needed.
The problem is big enough to have caught her attention, she said. “I don’t think it’s a crazy problem; it won’t overwhelm the court or schools, but it needs to happen.”
“I have lots of problems with students just not coming to school,” County Probation Officer Jamie Lloyd said Thursday. “This court will be held every week as a deterrent.”
She gets five to 10 calls per week, she said, explaining the county’s schools “just don’t have anything with teeth” to combat the problem.
An attendance-review panel that included representatives of different agencies tried to combat the problems at home or school that kept children from going to school, she said. But by the time the issue got to court, a student would have missed so much school it was difficult for him or her to catch up.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 19, 2007 09:13 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts