Truancy issues are a consistent problem in Kings County. In the last four school years, roughly a quarter of all students attending Kings County schools have been declared truants, according to statistics gathered by the California Office of Education.

During the 2007-2008 school year alone, more than 7,500 students were labeled as truants, a number equal to 26 percent of all school-age kids, grades K-12, across the county.

While the truancy rate may appear high, Kings County Superintendent John Stankovich said truancy issues in the county are comparable to those seen all across the state.

"Until graduation, attending school is compulsory and I think most parents know that," Stankovich said. "Many times it is beyond the control of a parent. [Truancy] is more typical of the older kids beyond elementary school age, acting out and refusing to go."

A truant is defined by the California Education Code as any pupil absent from school without a valid excuse for three full days, or who is reported as tardy on three separate occasions.

The Kings County Office of Education formed the Student Attendance Review Board (SARB) to help battle the rise in truancies.

But many people involved with truancy enforcement are at a loss to explain exactly why so many kids are skipping school.

Candy Bertaina, who sits on the Hanford-area local attendance board, said she believes most kids just don't understand the importance of going to school.

"These are kids that are having a hard time getting good grades, having trouble with homework and just don't want to be bothered with it," Bertaina said. "They can't see the future, they'd rather go skateboarding."

When truancy officer Brian Gonzales first started dealing with these problems, most of his cases came from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

Now, seven years later, the cases cover a "broad spectrum" of juveniles without any common ground, he said.

"I've prosecuted parents who are correctional officers, kids of a school board member and really just about anything in between," Gonzales said. "Whether they are from north Hanford or south Hanford, we deal with all of it here."

To contend with the differing demographics that make up Kings County's truants, the board connects with multiple government agencies to seek solutions to the problem.

A member of the Kings County Behavioral Health Department is on hand to help refer cases where psychological factors are involved. The county Probation Department recently paved the way for juvenile cases to face possible prosecution if the students continually fail to attend school.

But even with multiple options for enforcement, many sources interviewed regarding the work of the attendance review board say there are no common patterns among the children being truant.

In some cases, the kids simply don't want to go to school. Several students interviewed by Gonzales say they didn't realize they were cutting class so much and that they didn't know there were laws in place to ensure that they go.

"Some kids are just acting out," board member Bertaina said. "Especially the older kids. And some will straighten up if you get them in front of a law enforcement officer in a uniform. But there really is no common thread connecting these cases."

Gonzales said it is fairly common for a minor on probation to be involved in the SARB process. He estimates that roughly 30 to 40 percent of all the attendance board's cases are students on probation, whether formal or informal.

"For some of the kids we get, this is not something new," Gonzales said. "They typically have some kind of history and have been either cited for truancy before or have been through the SARB process in the past."

In elementary school, the parents are commonly held accountable for the child's actions, according to Stankovich. It's only as the students grow older that the schools start to issue citations and after-school detention to the kids.

"If children develop bad attendance problems when they are young, it will continue over a longer period of time," Stankovich said.

Schools are required to send out a letter notifying the parent that failure to send children to school could lead to prosecution.

Some say the blame rests mostly with the parents.

"What it comes down to is that the parents aren't stressing to kids the importance of going to school," Gonzales said. "Many parents are so involved in their own lives that they are not involved in their children's lives. Of course a parent wants to trust their kids, but many don't check to see if the kids are doing exactly what they say they are doing."

Parents or guardians convicted of violating California compulsory education laws can face fines and court assessment fees ranging from more than $400 for the first conviction, $1,000 for the second and $2,000 for the third. A fourth conviction can lead to the parent being charged with a misdemeanor crime and possible jail time.

Gonzales estimates that 140 truancy cases were filed in Kings County over the last year alone, a number which shows no signs of dropping.

"The majority of my cases don't cross my desk again," Gonzales said. "I see those kids once and they are so impacted by the process that they never become truant again. The other 20 or 30 percent are the kids that know what they are doing is wrong and just don't care. And with them, we just do what we can."

The reporter can be reached at 583-2425.

(July 5, 2009)