How do you know when the
stakeholders in Nebraska’s “attendance industry” are getting nervous? When they start giving fluff pieces to the
press about how great the “truancy” law and its corresponding diversion
programs are. (see story below)
http://www.ketv.com/news/local-news/douglas-county-truancy-program-recognized-as-program-of-the-year/-/9674510/22512798/-/c6xdvvz/-/index.html
As the voices for repeal of
Nebraska’s “excessive absenteeism” law get louder and louder, those who profit
off of our kids will push back harder and harder. An entire industry has been created as a
result of Brad Ashford’s harmful, anti-family law. This industry consists of social workers,
student personnel assistants, judges, county attorneys, attendance officers,
and other people who get paid to “help” us improve our kids’ attendance, and
their jobs depend on the survival of the law.
I want to say unequivocally that,
in my personal opinion, this award and the ensuing press coverage are
completely bogus.
Dragging 3,000 kids into the
juvenile justice system and then bragging about the 2,800 of them who were “diverted”
from prosecution would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.
Let me explain. In the 2009-2010 school
year, before the law took effect which made 20 days of absence from school a
crime, the number of children prosecuted by the Douglas County Attorney for truancy was
239. Those were kids who were truant
according to the real definition, absent without their parents’ permission. In the 2010-2011 school year, after the new
law was passed, the number of referrals jumped from 239 to 3,100, a 1,180%
increase. Those 3,100 kids were sorted
out by our deputy county attorneys in what resembles a “cattle call.” They were questioned publicly, pressured to
hand over personal medical records, assigned to monitoring, put on diversion for
being ill, and offered “voluntary” services under threat of having charges
filed and being removed from their home.
At
the end of that first year after the law was passed, can you guess how many
kids were filed on for actual truancy?
244.
239
truant kids before the law, 244 after.
In
this Channel 7 news story, Mary Beth Stranglen, Truancy Coordinator for the
Douglas County Attorney’s Office, is touting the success of the diversion program
because only 7% of the 3,000 children coming through her office are being sent
to court. I contend that’s because only
7% of those kids were really truant! Actual
truancy has remained pretty stable in our county, yet our tax dollars are being
spent on sorting and monitoring and diverting thousands of non-truant children,
many whose only “crime” is being sick. You
can’t drag 2,800 innocent kids into the juvenile justice system and then pat
yourself on the back for not prosecuting them.
Believe me, that is not an accomplishment to brag about.
And
one more comment: The young lady who was
touted as one of the diversion program’s “success” stories appears to be quite the
opposite. Although I'm glad she is back in school and doing well, the fact of the matter is that the diversion program didn’t work
for her and she ended up in front of a judge and on probation. How is that proof of a successful diversion
program, which by definition is designed to keep kids out of court? Give me a break.
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