LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Lisa Bowker knows well the stress that comes with having a child in the legal system for missing too much school because of sickness.
Now, lawmakers are trying to eliminate that stress with a proposed change to how schools address excessive absences.
Supporters say current practice brings too many kids into the legal system that should not be there, including those who miss school because of health issues or poverty.
Bowker, of Sidney, said her son Jamison Hoyt was charged with truancy after missing 23 days of school from being sick with the flu and migraines last year.
Current law states that if a child is absent for more than 20 days a year, the school must file a report with the county attorney if any of those absences are unexcused. The school can still request more time to work with the student before the county attorney intervenes.
On March 18, lawmakers proposed a change that would require schools to have at least one meeting with a parent or guardian of the child to develop a collaborative plan to reduce barriers to regular attendance if the student has exceeded a certain number of absences. The proposal would eliminate mandatory referrals to the county attorney when a student reaches 20 absences, and also may include helping families to work with community services.
“What I am hopeful of … is that we are arriving at a place where parents and schools and the juvenile justice system can work collaboratively to identify those children who are in significant need of further help,” Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha, who sponsored the amendment, said during floor debate.
The number of students missing more than 20 days of school decreased about 2 percent since the 2009-2010 school year, according to a brief by Voices for Children in Nebraska. Truancy filings have more than doubled since 2009, the report found.
“We think we can get kids to school without court involvement,” said Sarah Forrest, policy coordinator for child welfare and juvenile justice with the organization.
More than 70 percent of Nebraska students who missed 20 or more days of school last year lived in poverty, the report found.
There are a range of things that can keep a kid from school: sickness, transportation issues, or housing instability, Forrest said. Students could already be in the child welfare or juvenile justice system and have to miss school for court or therapy sessions, she said.
Brenda Vosik, director of the Nebraska Family Forum, an organization that wants to protect parental authority in educational policy, said these kids aren’t criminals. “They need services, not the hammer of the law,” she said. “They need help.”
Jamison was an 8th grader at when he got the flu twice and had problems with migraines. Bowker said he got good grades and was involved with band and football.
A police officer served papers to Jamison late one evening that said he had a court hearing, which “scared the heck out of him and me,” Bowker said.
They had a doctor’s note for every absence, she said. The case was later dropped but not before the family was told Jamison could be taken out of his home.
“I feel like I have raised my children well,” she said. “I was appalled … I was hurt.”
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The amendment is AM2164 to LB464
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