Lessons from Truancy Court: Solving absenteeism requires time, resources
Charges soar after Iowa Legislature changes law
Congratulations, the judge tells the defendant. Her 13-year-old son had missed nine days of school over the last four months and earned an A in a class, all big improvements. He had made friends and had stopped asking to drop out. “It’s a complete 180,” the school reports.
The same Des Moines middle schooler had stopped going to school in late October 2023 and racked up 75 unexcused absences by the time his mother was charged with violating Iowa’s compulsory education law in February 2024.
It’s now late October 2024, and the judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, and school social worker all agree that it’s time to consider dismissing the simple misdemeanor charge.
Not yet, the 31-year-old mother responds. “I need a bit longer,” she says, to hold her son and herself accountable. She takes responsibility for some of her son’s attendance problems, explaining that her parenting had improved since she started taking antidepression medication.
“Just keep it up,” Polk County Judge Brent Pattison encourages the mother and asks her to return to court in two months.
Parents asking to keep a case open “happens more often than you’d think,” Pattison says later.
Solving absenteeism is rarely a quick fix, lessons from Truancy Court show. The root causes are often complex, and the threat of a fine or jail goes only so far in solving the problem.
“Our tool to address this is a blunt instrument,” Judge Pattison says.
Truancy is in the spotlight after the Iowa Legislature passed a law addressing chronic absenteeism in 2024. The law sets out several steps for schools, including:
When a student misses 10% or more of the days or hours in a grading period, schools must send a letter via certified mail to the parents or guardians and inform the county attorney’s office.
When a student misses 15%, the school must hold a student engagement meeting with the family to identify barriers and create a plan to improve attendance.
When a student violates the absenteeism prevention plan or fails to participate in the engagement meeting, the school can refer the case to the county attorney’s office for possible prosecution.
Legislators are now considering changes to the new law after it has created burdens on schools, which are spending thousands of dollars on the certified letters. That money could be better used on early intervention and mediation to get kids in class and parents out of court.
The changes have led to more charges, too. So far this school year through Feb. 21, the Polk County Attorney’s Office has filed charges against 147 parents. That compares with 62 charges in the entire 2023-24 school year.
Despite the increases, Polk County Truancy Court’s goals remain constant: All parties work together to address the reasons for absenteeism, get the student in class regularly, and ultimately dismiss the charge.
The new law has created questions over what is and what isn’t an excused absence, but in Truancy Court, the focus goes beyond numbers. Parents of a truant child have a better chance of avoiding charges if they communicate regularly with the school, work with officials there, and show a good-faith effort to get their child to class.
Even if parents are charged, they get many opportunities to earn a dismissal. From the time a charge is filed, county attorneys have one year to prosecute a case. Over that time, parents may go before the judge several times to discuss how they’re overcoming barriers to getting the child to school. School officials provide progress reports and connect families to services and supports to provide solutions.
Spend an afternoon in Truancy Court and you’ll see the reasons behind absenteeism are varied. Some of the parents struggle to get their kids out of bed on time. Judge Pattison recommends that parents involve a doctor or therapist, or use consequences such as taking away a phone or internet privileges.
Other issues can’t be solved with an earlier bedtime and a reliable alarm.
A mother lives in a shelter temporarily and asks the school to provide safe transportation for her three children. Another mom tells the judge that she just got out of jail for driving without a license, and her children live too close to school to get bus service, but too far to walk. A father explains that his children suffer from severe asthma, and he promises to do better in informing the school when they are ill, although he needs an interpreter to communicate. One mother reports that her daughter gets panic attacks in school and cuts herself, and she’s on a waiting list to get her a room in a residential care facility.
Parents must show improvement or that they are making reasonable efforts to get their children to school. Otherwise, they face the potential of a fine, community service, or, in extreme circumstances, jail.
Playing the Shame Game
Iowa has been using the hammer of a criminal charge since at least 1902, when the compulsory education law went into effect.
Truancy Court continues to change with the times and as professionals learn more about how to balance support and accountability.
Here’s my admission of guilt: I was the accomplice in a high-level shaming.
More than 25 years ago, as a Register reporter, I wrote a story about Polk County’s Truancy Court. The article opened with a 15-year-old who had missed more than 50 days of school by April. He told the judge he couldn’t get to sleep before 2 or 3 a.m. The judge ordered him to be in bed by 9 o’clock: “No TV, no radio, no telephone.”
The parents — who were named along with their child on the front page —were threatened with 10 days in jail if they couldn’t get their son to school. They couldn’t understand why they were being held responsible for their son’s actions. Because that’s the law, the judge explained.
The story also reported that Des Moines Public Schools had started a program to target absenteeism in elementary schools. School officials believed it was one of the first truancy programs in the U.S. involving young children.
It was a time of high anxiety over wayward kids and the responsibilities of parents, schools, and society. Also dominating the front page that day was an update on the Columbine shootings, which had happened four days before, on April 20, 1999.
In May 2002, Des Moines’ cable access channel began broadcasting Truancy Court from the City Council chambers. The idea, according to Register archives: educate the public and policymakers on the problems of truancy, which often lead students into the criminal justice system and ultimately cost taxpayers’ money. It was the height of the reality TV era, and Des Moines’ show featured a judge who gave on-air lectures to parents and minors (who were shown only with their parents’ permission).
After the COVID pandemic, concerns about truancy rose again. Other states began to rethink the traditional punitive approach, and created community truancy boards – a collaboration of school, juvenile court, and resource providers who meet with students and parents early with the goal of avoiding a court hearing.
Coaching and Coaxing
Polk County’s approach leans into helping the child. Truancy Court is now held in a juvenile courtroom, even though adults are the defendants. Judge Pattison’s courtroom features child-sized tables and chairs, colorful quilts, and a handmade sign that says “Don’t Quit.” Shelves are filled with picture books and young-adult novels, provided by Restoring Hope, the foundation of late juvenile Judge Colin Witt.
Pattison hands a copy of “Efren Divided” to a freshman who had missed 51 days the previous school year and was slowly making improvements. “I want you to read this and hear your report,” the judge tells the teen.
Sometimes, cases can be resolved quickly. One mother was charged early November after her 15-year-old had recorded 20 absences and 28 tardies during the term while earning D’s and F’s. By the mother’s second court appearance in early January, the girl had no more unexcused absences and had improved her grades. The school’s associate principal called the changes “incredible.” The girl shared her goals to attend college and become a therapist.
“If you are missing as much school as you did, the risk you won’t graduate goes up dramatically,” Pattison reminded her, before congratulating her and dismissing the case against her mother.
The law offers little help in other cases. Pattison dismissed a case against two parents who brought their 15-year-old to school every day, but he consistently walked out and missed more than 135 full days and many more class periods over the course of three semesters.
The truancy law says if parents make a “reasonable effort” to get their children to school, they cannot be convicted.
“I don’t enjoy closing cases this way,” Pattison said in court. “It would be hard for me to find that they weren’t making a reasonable effort.”
The mother who asked to keep her case open? Ultimately, time ran out. Despite improvements, her son’s attendance slipped again and 16 unexcused absences piled up in two months. With the deadline approaching — one year since her initial appearance — she pleaded guilty and paid a $50 fine.
Case closed, solution deferred.
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Bullying continues to be a serious issue -- especially when schools and parents insist that "kids have to solve their own problems" and walk away. This mindset results in a complete lack of supervision. The truant student solves the problem by -- being truant.