Wednesday, March 3, 2004

Parent charged under truancy law

Jennifer Emmons El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

JEMMONS Since implementing a strict truancy policy this school year, the District Attorney's Office, in conjunction with the Socorro School District, has filed the first criminal complaint against the parent of a truant child.

On Feb. 23, District Attorney Clint Wellborn filed the criminal complaint for truancy against Audrey Pino, 36, the mother of a 15-year-old Socorro student, on charges of violating the Compulsory School Attendance Law by allowing her child to miss, without excuse, 10 or more school days.

"This is the first time this (filing a criminal complaint against a parent) has been done in the county," Superintendent Frank Jaramillo said. "We want to get the message out that we are serious about our policies."

Pino is charged with not enforcing the attendance policy, which is a petty misdemeanor. Since this is a first offense for Pino, she faces a $25 to $100 fine and/or community service, if convicted.

On each subsequent offense for a petty misdemeanor, a person faces up to a $500 fine and/or six months in jail.

Assistant Superintendent Robert Jiron said that Pino's child has missed 38 school days from August through October 2003.

"That's just counting through October," Wellborn said. "She has missed a considerable amount of time from October through the present — we don't even have all the days calculated it's been so many missed school days."

As the law is set up now, Wellborn said, it's not against the law for a child not to be in school, but it is against the law for a parent not to have their child in school. In some states, he said, the child is charged as a juvenile for not attending school.

In New Mexico, however, it is the parent who is responsible and who is charged if a child is not attending school. Wellborn said that could all change, if the Legislature passes a new law holding children responsible, as well as the parents.

The District Attorney's Office has been working through a long list of referrals from the district schools on children who have had more than 10 unexcused absences. Some of the referrals also go through the Juvenile Probation and Parole Office for review.

"We still have a lot of things to work out to make sure we are enforcing the truant policy thoroughly," Wellborn said. "We are still organizing the long list we have and getting things in order — it's a learning process.

Wellborn said there are nearly 250 students in Socorro that have missed more than 20 school days. Some children, he said, have missed as many as 50 to 60 school days.

"Truancy is a big problem in our district and we are hoping to change that," Jaramillo said. "We hope by that by taking serious actions that it will make a difference in our attendance. Since the truancy policy has been in place, however, parents have been more conscientious of calling in excused absences for their children.

"That's something we want to stress — we are not targeting children who have valid reasons for missing school, but those who are missing school unexcused."

Wellborn said that the District Attorney's Office is taking allegations of truancy very seriously "and we are implementing the Compulsory School Attendance Law."

In September 2003, Socorro Schools adopted a strict new truancy policy put forward by Wellborn.

A month earlier, in August, Socorro School Board members, school administrators and local law enforcement officers attended a workshop to hear Gov. Bill Richardson's plans to try to fix the truancy rate in New Mexico. Sid Ashmore, a state truancy officer originally from Socorro, gave the presentation at Sarracino Middle School.

Wellborn then presented a customized plan to the Socorro School Board at an August meeting and the policy was adopted in September's meeting.

Wellborn's proposal, which was sent out to parents in the Socorro School District after its adoption, states that after a child has accumulated three unexcused absences they will be referred to a child study committee to address the child's absences.

After five unexcused absences a certified letter will be sent to the child's parents, and a meeting will be set with the parents and the school administration to address the child's unexcused absences.

After 10 absences, a second certified letter will be sent notifying them of the number of unexcused absences and the case will be referred to the Juvenile Probation Parole Office or the District Attorney's Office for action.

"What we want to see come out of this is to have all kids in school. We don't want to put parents in jail, we just want to make sure every child is getting a proper education," Wellborn said.

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