Earlier this week, a Hickory Hills woman, whose 14-year-old daughter spent her days watching television rather than going to school, spent a night in jail after school officials accused her of inadequately supervising her child.
While the arrest was unusual, it certainly was not unique. Faced with soaring truancy rates, school officials are taking more and more parents to court in an effort to make them more responsible for seeing that their children show up for class.
”Our main goal was to have this child in class,” said Ken Geraghty, assistant superintendent of North Palos Elementary School District 117. ”This student just failed to come to school.”
In the last eight years, the number of chronic truants, those pupils absent without a valid reason at least 10 percent of the time, has risen 91 percent statewide and 87 percent in the Chicago metropolitan area, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
It`s even worse in Chicago, where chronic truancy in the public schools has risen 147 percent-from 6,900 cases to 17,051-since the 1982-83 school year. According to Chicago Board of Education figures, 10 percent of elementary and high school students were absent on any given day last year.
”This is a problem that`s getting out of control,” said Fred Murino, dean of students at Thornridge High School in south suburban Dolton. ”It seems to be getting worse all the time, and it`s almost impossible to keep up with it.”
School officials cite many reasons for truancy, including poverty, the lure of gangs and lack of a strong relationship between schools and students. Key among the reasons, though, is a lack of parental involvement, school officials say.
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The Hickory Hills woman was charged under a section of the Illinois State School Code that holds parents responsible for truant children. If convicted, she could face a 30-day jail term and a $500 fine.
The 33-year-old single mother insisted she has tried to get the child back in school, but school and law enforcement officials say that parents must be held accountable.
The woman was not identified to protect the privacy of the child, officials said.
Last year, a father of a truant spent two weeks in jail in Kane County, and three years ago, a Waukegan woman was put in jail for three days for a similar offense.
”That story made the front page of all the local papers, and I understand every kid in the county was in school the next day,” said Monica Schwander, who works with the Lake County truant alternative program.
Last year, 75 adults in Kane County were charged with inadequate supervision of their children in misdemeanor court and another 57 children were charged with truancy in juvenile court. In Will County, 15 parents were similarly charged last year. Statistics from other counties were not immediately available.
”This is an aggressive program,” asserted Clem Mejia, assistant Kane County superintendent of schools. ”When we`ve exhausted our resources and done all our counseling and nothing works, we will bring the parents into court. But our real purpose is to let parents take control of their lives, not to put them in jail.”
Amundsen High School on Chicago`s North Side is working with the Cook County state`s attorney`s office to reduce the rising incidence of truancy.
School officials recently sent letters to 210 families asking them to attend a special meeting last week in the school where Assistant State`s Atty. Maureen Durkin Roy, who is in charge of all misdemeanor courts in the city, explained state laws about school attendance.
But, according to Roy, only 12 to 15 people showed up.
Now the school will send out a second notice. This meeting will be held with school and law enforcement officials in the Belmont District police station at Belmont and Western Avenues.
There is also a third letter that will go to any parent who does not attend the second meeting. That says if the parents do not respond the school could file complaints against them.
So, far, however, of the 65 public high schools in Chicago, only Amundsen and Harper High School on the South Side are involved in the program.
”I can`t tell you why,” said a perplexed Roy.
In 1990, the parents of an Amundsen High School student in Chicago pleaded guilty to ignoring the school`s effort to get their child in class and were sentenced to one year of court supervision. They were also ordered to attend conferences with teachers and meetings of the local school council.
Has the court crackdown worked? Somewhat, says Amundsen Principal Edward Klunk. ”School attendance went up about 10 percent because of all the publicity we had last year, but it`s fallen back this year,” he said.
Board of Education officials say they take some 30 to 50 parents to court each month. These days, the courts are more willing to listen, they say.
”In the past the courts looked at us and said, `Why are you bringing this to us? It`s not a crime. They`re not killing anybody,` ” observed Lester Gaines, administrator for school attendance in the city.
”They`re being more vigilant now because they know we`ve exhausted our means,” Gaines said. ”Chronic truancy leads to crimes. Most of the gangbangers and troublemakers out there have been identified as chronic truants.”
Gaines estimates that perhaps five to 10 parents are fined $500 each month, and although he cannot recall a parent being jailed, he says judges have threatened some parents with jail time.
In Arlington Heights, parents can be fined up to $500 under village ordinances if their children skip school. But, according to Police Sgt. Jerry Lambert, a juvenile division supervisor, the usual fine is closer to $50.
”This is not a way for us to make money,” Lambert said. ”It`s a way to get the kid back to school.”
Park Ridge recently adopted a similar ordinance that says a parent can be fined $10 to $50 if their child under 18 is not in school. It will go into effect on March 1.
In the case of Hickory Hills, the school district has called on both the Palos Hills and Hickory Hills police departments to enforce a state statute holding parents responsible for truancy because there was no longer a county truant officer to do it, said Geraghty, the assistant superintendent.
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Last year, the Cook County Board sliced the lone truant officer`s position from the Cook County school superintendent`s budget as part of broad- based cutbacks there.
Geraghty said that social workers and the principal of Conrady Junior High School went to the unidentified child`s home, but nothing seemed to help. That`s when police were called in.
When the mother missed a court date, police arrested her at her job. She was held in custody overnight when she could not come up with $500 in bail. The next day a judge in the Bridgeview courthouse released her on her own recognizance.