When Kids Cut Class, Parents Go to Jail

The last thing she wants to do, says San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris (pictured above, left), is prosecute parents. "It's very difficult to be a parent," she admits.

But the D.A. recently sent a letter to San Francisco parents in three languages threatening prosecution. The crime: truancy. The charge: contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The sentence: up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Harris discussed the letter and other new tactics in the city's campaign against absenteeism before an audience of ethnic media reporters convened by New America Media on Jan. 22 at the San Francisco Hall of Justice. School Superintendent Carlos Garcia and Stay in School coalition coordinator Keith Choy joined her on the panel.

After the letter went out, Harris said, she got a humorous phone call from a friend. "'My wife got the letter and freaked out,'" Harris quoted her friend as saying, with a smile. "'She took our kids to the living room and said, 'If you don't go to school, Kamala's gonna put me and you in jail.''"

Truancy is a serious but little-known problem, Harris said. People are vocal about crime in their communities, she noted, but rarely mention the problem of children not going to school.

San Francisco's absenteeism rate is worse than that of both Alameda and Los Angeles counties. There were 5,417 truant students -- about 10 percent of the district's total population of 55,000 students -- last year. That figure includes both "habitual" truants, those missing at least 10 days of school, and "chronic" truants, absent for 20 or more. Most truants in the city are black and Latino; 18 percent are Asian.

The reasons vary greatly depending on the child's age, Harris said. Sometimes, Latino youth take care of younger children. Bullied children who are afraid to go to school might claim that they are sick, added Keith Choy.

But why is the district attorney involved?

There is a direct link between education and public safety, Harris says. In the last four years, 94 percent of all San Francisco homicide victims below the age of 25 were high school dropouts. Most county jail residents are functionally illiterate and have never held formal jobs. According to Superintendent Carlos Garcia, 22 states are now building prisons based on the number of people who can't read at a third grade level.

More than two years ago, Harris, Mayor Gavin Newsom and other top city officials held an anti-truancy press conference in the largely-Latino Mission District, announcing a public information campaign and assigning "attendance liaisons" to work at troubled schools.

Some positive results have been achieved. The number of chronic or habitual truants dropped in the 2006 to 2007 school year by nearly 80 children.

They aren't naively trying to capture every truant child, officials say. The latest campaign focuses on the youngest truants. About half of last year's habitual or chronic truants were elementary school students.

A series of intervention steps begins at the start of the absenteeism, according to Harris. The final step is the prosecution of parents. Before that, a meeting is set up between parents, the child, teachers – and an assistant district attorney.

The assistant D.A.s attend, Harris said, to send the message that "this is a big problem and lots of people are paying attention. So let's fix it before it gets worse." She has assigned several assistant D.A.s and support staff to the issue.

Other steps include home visits by police, a school attendance review team, wake up calls -- morning phone calls to get students ready for school -- and educational outreach for immigrant parents unfamiliar with U.S. schooling.

Truant children caught by police are taken to a resource center. Organizations like the Omega Boys Club motivate kids to go to school and even provide transportation.

No one has yet been prosecuted.

Though Harris said she would not hesitate to file charges if the situation called for it, Garcia added, "Our goal is not to prosecute. It's to have a family intervention."

The meeting itself, attended by writers, photographers and videographers from black, Asian, Russian and Latino media across the Bay Area, was an intervention of sorts. "Ethnic media represent the voice and ear of those communities" that officials need to reach most, Harris said.

Peter Micek is a frequent contributor to New America Media.