Is anyone familiar with the procedure in CA regarding this? My son and some friends left their closed campus at lunchtime the day before a two-week break to “celebrate”. They were seen and cited by the police who issued them a “ticket” for truancy. Now, we’ve received a letter from the District Attorney’s office stating that our son has a truancy problem and stating all sorts of dire consequences, presumably if the problem continues.
This is the first time my son has been out of school without an excuse, and he has never been cited for anything. Although we don’t condone him leaving the campus (he knows the rules…), I certainly don’t consider him a “truant”. As such, I don’t understand why we received this letter, other than it is some sort of standard operating procedure when the legal system gets involved.
Does anyone know anything about this?
Re: HELP! Letter from District Attorney's office re truancy!
Im not in CA so I cant be much help
I would suspect it was some sort of standard operating procedure as you mentioned.
In my job, I have 45 calendar days to take special needs toddlers from referral to IFSP-IOW they count weekends, holidays against us.
If I call a parent and get an answering machine, I immediately send out my first ‘no contact’ letter, sounding very official. I KNOW it seems extreme and some parents get upset, but it’s necessary to keep things moving with the timeline pressure the government puts us under.
I wonder if this isnt the same sort of thing and it doesnt mean a whole lot in the real world
I just hope this has put as much fear into your dc as its putting into you, KWIM?
Thanks for your reply, Marycas-- I called the DAs office and
as I suspected, this is SOP when a kid has actually been cited by the authorities. My son got what looked like a parking ticket. Apparently, that generates a call to the DA’s office by the school district so they can “mediate”. The next step is that we have to meet with someone in that office. Apparently, based on the individual situation, history of the child, etc., they could decide to press charges if appropriate. Since this is my son’s first tangle with the “law” (and ours too!), he’ll probably get a strong lecture and maybe community service. I took the opportunity to discuss my son’s issue over the phone in hopes that this nasty occurrence can be turned into something that may be very helpful in getting through to my hardheaded son.
nm