1. Associated Press. (2013, September 6). Detroit steps up efforts to lift school attendance. Austin American Statesman. Retrieved from http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/kids-family/detroit-steps-up-efforts-to-lift-school-attendance/nZpSg/
2. Category of problem: Education
3. Level of problem: Local
4. The article concerns: The Detroit Public School district is scaling up efforts to improve school attendance by cracking down on truancy
5. Why is this important to families/individuals OR how does it affect individuals/families?
This will affect families because parents can face punishment in fines, jail time, or loss of welfare benefits.
6. What are your views on the issue/policy?
Getting kids to go to school and stay in school is an important issue. Truancy is linked to increased crime and drug use, as well as decreased rates of graduation. Detroit has had escalating rates of truancy for many years now and this new policy is just the latest in years of attempts to solve the problem. A policy which passed the house earlier this year, for example, denies access to welfare for families with truant students.
The latest plan to increase school attendance is similar to the previous policies in that it imposes harsher punishments for students and parents of students who are absent or are more than fifteen minutes late to school. It all looks fine and dandy, but what other programs are in place to get students to school? A peek into the Wayne County website shows that their truancy program is all sticks and no carrots. In order to increase school attendance, we need to know why kids aren’t going to school. Perhaps instead of continuing to fund increasing punishments for offenders and their parents, funds could be shuttled to programs designed to recognize and offer assistance to students who are not attending class regularly.
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