by KYW's Dr. Marciene Mattleman
District attorney Kamala Harris and school superintendent Carlos Garcia for two years have tackled the large number of habitual and chronic truants in San Francisco schools, motivated by statistics showing 94% of the city’s homicide victims were high school dropouts under 25.
The campaign focused on parents, some of whom may not have known that school attendance is compulsory for kids 6-18 in California.
Habitually truant students are those who have 10-19 unexcused absences and chronic truants with 20 or more such absences.
In April, when data were last compiled, the number of the most serious elementary school truants was cut in half, with a drop of 23%. In middle school, truancy dropped 4% but in high school, there was an uptick of 2%.
Strategies included meetings with families, warning letters on the consequences of truancy and fines for parents. Those with children who missed 40-80 days of the 180-day academic year were prosecuted.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the drastic action that got kids back in school stressing the link between public safety and public education.
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