Tickets for Truants: One Town's Solution for School Skippers

While one Florida county has rounded up and arrested the parents of chronic truants, another town is hitting parents in the wallet instead.

School skippers in Lakeland can face tickets of up to $108 for their impromptu days off.

The Lakeland Police Department says truancy adds to the community’s gang problem and daytime crime, according to Channel 10. That’s why truant officers are tasked with keeping their eyes open for kids who decided to cut out on class.

Lakeland truant officer Adam Williams told ABC Action News he stops about 30 kids a month.

Truants who are under 16 when they’re caught have to pay the tickets or it can prevent them from getting their driver’s licenses, NBC pointed out.

While Lakeland cracks down with tickets, parents in Duval County also discovered recently that law enforcement there isn’t playing around when it comes to truancy. Warrants were issued for the arrest of the parents of the county’s most notorious school skippers.

One of the parents arrested in the warrants sweep has a 9-year-old first-grader who has missed a total of 239 days of school since 2011. All told the 44 truancy cases add up to a combined 6,558 days of missed classes over the course of three years.

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See Also:

• 18 Florida Parents Jailed for Not Sending Kids to School
• Prison Escapee Could be in Tampa Bay Area