L.A. reverses course: Are 'tough-love' truancy programs causing more dropouts?

The Los Angeles Police Department has reversed course on a slate of get-tough-on-truancy policies that included truancy sweeps, $250 tickets and mandatory court appearances that could result in jail time for parents, The LA Times reported this week.

Bravo.

I can certainly understand the allure of “tough love” anti-truancy policies like those launched by California Attorney General Kamala Harris when she was District Attorney of San Francisco. Three years into Harris’ program — which looks a lot like the Los Angeles program — the rate of chronically truant students was significantly down. And since chronically truant students are far more likely to drop out than those who are regular attenders, that’s nothing to scoff at.

But it would be wise to listen to critics who say such policies might be forcing more students to simply drop out of school altogether. If true, that would have the perverse effect of lowering the chronic truancy rate while also contributing to the city’s dropout rate (which, coincidentally, has seen a significant increase recently.)

Another problem with criminalizing truancy: How do you determine what is willful? When a student leaves school to avoid a bully, is that willful truancy? When they’re late to school in the morning because they were up until 3 a.m. working to support their family, is that willful truancy? When they leave early in order to catch a bus so that they can pick up their own children from daycare on time, is that willful truancy?

The school district and law enforcement resources obligated when a police officer writes a truancy ticket could be far better used to understand the reasons behind truant behaviors — and to address those reasons with solutions.  

Will we learn that some kids just skip school because they’re “up to no good”? Undoubtedly. But believe me: We’ll learn so much more.

Rebekah Richards is co-founder and chief academic officer of The American Academy, which partners with more than 40 school districts nationwide to turn dropouts into diploma holders. For more information about The American Academy, visit NoDropouts.org.