When I was
growing up as a kid on Long Island, back in the ‘50s and into the early ‘60s,
there was a show on TV we liked to watch called “The Little Rascals”. It was about a group of neighborhood kids who hung
out and went to school together. Two of the main characters were boys named
Spanky and Alfalfa and the show centered around the trouble they and their friends
would get into. They were always skipping school or “playing hooky” to go
fishing. Then the teacher, Miss Crabtree, a pretty young woman, would always
have to call the truant officer to go find them and bring them back to school!
When I married
and had my first child, I never could have imagined that someday I would find
myself facing this type of thing down the road! I didn’t even think there were
such things as truant officers anymore, much less that I would have to deal
with one! Most of us think that when our children miss a day or two of school,
all we have to do is write a note explaining why and everything will be fine,
no harm done! Unfortunately this is not the case anymore, when you write the
note it goes on file as an unexcused absence, the only true excused absences
are the ones where a doctor has been evolved and given his written consent as
to why the child was unable to attend school during that time.
I raised six
kids, five of my own, four girls, and a boy along with a niece that came to live
with me just before she turned two. I didn’t really have trouble getting them
to go to school, although some of them were tardy (or late) frequently, that is
until the very last one! She was good up until the age of about twelve when she
was in the sixth grade and then something happened! Suddenly everyday was a
struggle to get her up and off to school. Sometimes she would fake a
stomachache so she could stay home and then be fine later in the day. I took
her to the doctor a couple of times, but the doctor couldn’t really find
anything physically wrong. She was classified as Learning Impaired and was in
Special Ed classes, so I tried to get the Special Education department to have
the school psychiatrist evaluate her, figuring I’d start there. My husband was
out of work and our insurance wasn’t that great so I didn’t want to waste time
and money if there wasn’t really anything wrong with her. I got nowhere with
the Special Ed department, one minute the case worker would say how they could
write a time allowance into my daughters I.E.P., but when I requested that it
be done, she said it wasn’t possible. I started to feel like I was getting the
run around!
Every time I
would bring her in late, I’d end up in the principal’s office and he was not
very sympathetic, he kept telling me if things didn’t change he’d have to take
action. I had no idea at the time what kind of action he would take! This went
on for almost a month, one day the police showed up at the house, a real life
truant officer and drove her to school; it didn’t seem to upset my daughter too
much! Then in the mail I received a summons to show up at court and speak to
the prosecutor, with whom I had several meetings and didn’t think they had gone
too badly until they actually gave me a court date. I then had to appear before
a judge who was rather nasty, he basically told me “we don’t like your kind”
and truancy would not be tolerated, then proceeded to fine me $300 plus court
costs, he told me he never wanted to see me in his court again!
There are some
things they just don’t tell you before you have kids, one thing is that public
schools get “X” amount of dollars from the government when they have “X” number
of children in their schools for “X” number of days a year and your child or
children better be in that “X” number or else! If not, you’d better have a
written documented explanation other than the early onset of puberty! Another
thing they don’t tell you is that you will be responsible for every “dumb”
thing they do and it can cost you some big bucks!
