Proposed truancy ordinance supported by Union County educators

Published 7:00 am Thursday, April 18, 2024

LA GRANDE — Skipping school regularly can prevent one from graduating from high school and send one down a life path as uncertain as it is unpromising.

This is a big reason local educators and Union County District Attorney Kelsie McDaniel are working hard to get a truancy ordinance passed in Union County.

“We want to do everything we can to help students stay in school,” McDaniel said.

The DA said she hopes the proposed truancy regulation, which later must be approved by the Union County Board of Commissioners, can be passed and in effect by the time the 2024-25 school year starts in Union County school districts.

School districts in cities accepting the ordinance would be allowed to cite the parents of students who are chronically absent from school. Parents could be fined up to $1,000 for a violation.

The ordinance is needed, according to Union School District Superintendent Carter Wells, because the truancy law Oregon now has cannot be enforced. He explained that in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic the Oregon Legislature passed a bill that prevented school districts and the state from issuing citations to the parents of students who were chronically absent. This was because students throughout the state were missing enormous amounts of school due to the pandemic.

Union County’s proposed ordinance would be almost identical to the one the state had before 2021, Wells said.

Should the proposed regulation be adopted, it is doubtful school districts or the county would issue many citations for chronic absenteeism based on past experience. Wells said that during the 15 years he has been with his district, it has not issued a citation based on chronic absenteeism.

Union County Sheriff Cody Bowen, who worked as a school resource officer in the La Grande School District for eight years through 2020, when he was a deputy, said he issued only four or five citations to the parents of chronically absent students.

A last resort

Wells said if any parents are ever cited in his school district under the proposed new ordinance, it would only occur after all other efforts to get their student to attend school regularly are made.

“It would be a last resort,” he said.

The only parents who could be cited are those of students missing at least 10% of school days with unexcused absences.

Parents cited could be required to appear at a circuit court hearing where a judge would help develop a plan for getting a student to attend school more regularly. McDaniel noted that when the former state truancy law was fully in effect before the COVID-19 pandemic, a judge asked a student to go out for a sport. On other occasions judges asked students to not only begin attending school regularly but also report back to them and show how well they were doing in school.

When students follow through on a judge’s assigned plan of action, the citations issued to their parents would be dismissed, McDaniel said. Citations would also be dismissed if a student’s school reported that the student was making significant progress.

The focus at the hearings were very constructive, McDaniel said, noting that families would be asked about things they needed to help keep their students in school.

Local control

Cove School District Superintendent Earl Pettit supports the proposed truancy ordinance in part because it has been developed here. This is a dramatic shift in an era where the state is dictating more and more what school boards can and cannot do.

“It would shift some control from the state to the local level,” he said.

Pettit prefers to have changes made via the county ordinance route rather than a bill passed by the Legislature. He said if a problem is discovered with a local regulation it is much less difficult to fix than a flawed piece of legislation.

Pettit also said only students who are in danger of not graduating due to unexcused absences would be cited in his school district.

“It is not as if on senior skip day students will have to worry about being cited,” he said.

George Mendoza, superintendent of the La Grande School District, said the proposed truancy ordinance ties in well with his district’s emphasis on attendance. He said that when a student attends school regularly and participates in a school activity or sport their chance for overall success increases significantly.

“Showing up is an important habit to have in life,” he said.

“Showing up is an important habit to have in life.”

— George Mendoza, La Grande School District superintendent