State's truancy laws under fire from parents, advocacy groups

A Sidney family called to court because of their son's absences from school contends that Nebraska's attendance law is unreasonable.

Under the initial version of this law, every child who missed more than 20 days whether excused or unexcused, would be reported to his or her county attorney who would then file a petition with the court regarding the absences. There was quite a bit of parental backlash after children with cancer and other diseases were reported to their county for excused absences.

Brenda Vosik, of the Nebraska Family Forum, an organization that advocates for families who've experienced issues with this law, stresses that this isn't a truancy law, but that its goal is to increase attendance. Vosik has two school age children in the Millard School District in the Omaha area. A student who is truant misses school purposefully with no excuse.

These parents lobbied for a reform to the law, which they received in the form of Nebraska LB933 in April 2012.

"We really had to fight for that amendment," Vosik said.

She added that this law has caused parents to send their children to school sick. The amendment was a step in the right direction, but not what lobbyers were hoping for, Vosik said.

"We weren't happy with it, but we took what we could get," Vosik said.

Those at the NFF are still working to achieve repeal of the entire bill.

Under the new amendment, if all 20 absences are excused, the school does not have to report the child to the county attorney, but can report the child at any time at its own discretion.

After the law was amended to exclude excused absences from counting against the students, most school districts changed their attendance policies. Some would report to the county attorney after only 10 unexcused absences, for example, said Deputy Cheyenne County and Deuel County attorney Jonathon Stellar.

Following the law's amendment, it was the Cheyenne County attorney's policy to go through with all those cases which the school reported to them, under the impression that schools would only report those children that they considered to be actually truant.

The family of 12-year-old Maynard child was served with a Deuel County court summons on May 28 for their son's excessive absenteeism, according to court documents provided by his mother, Darla Maynard.

Maynard claims that her son missed so many days last school year because he had the flu, pinkeye and strep throat all in the same year. There were also two days she couldn't drive him to the school because of bad weather. The Maynard family lives in Sidney, but their son goes to school in Lodgepole.

When the family went to Deuel County Court on June 18, Maynard didn't think that her son really understood what was going on in the courtroom, but said he was informed he could be removed from the custody of his parents, as a result of his absences.

Vosik claimed that it was overly aggressive of the County Attorney's office to require the Maynards to come to court.

The County attorney's office has now dropped the petition involving the Maynards.

Vosik also claimed that every time that her group brings a particular case to the eyes of the community and the media, the case is dropped, but that she is worried about those who don't get any attention.

"It's hurting a lot of families," Vosik said.

Maynard figured that the family would just explain their circumstances to the judge and the issue would be resolved, but that didn't happen immediately.

"This law is stupid," Maynard said.

She does not blame those at Deuel County School District, but the county attorney. Vosik claimed that the county attorney's office was pawning off blame onto the school district.

"It's his choice whether or not to file," Vosik said.

Cheyenne County attorneys meet with the school districts at the beginning of each school year to discuss new policies and safety issues, Stellar said. The attorneys met with Sidney schools to discuss the new attendance rules at the beginning of 2012, but the Cheyenne County attorney's office did not take over Deuel County attorney services until December 2012, so it never had a conversation about the new law with officials at Deuel County schools.

"If the school asks us to file, we file," Stellar said. "Assuming that the attendance policy has been updated."

Stellar explained that sick kids were never prosecuted in Cheyenne County, and that the county attorney's office never took any children or parents to court if the students had medically excused absences.

The county attorney's offices is planning to meet with Deuel County school districts to correct the matter. Stellar does not blame those at Deuel County school districts.

"In rural districts you have a lot of people wearing a lot of hats," Stellar said. "They didn't know that it had changed."

Stellar could not comment on the Maynard case because it involves a minor.