Atlanta City Council Approves Truancy Penalties

The Atlanta City Council unanimously approved an ordinance on Monday that gives the courts more weapons in the battle against school truants.

Among the changes: After a first conviction, parents face stiffer penalties ranging from mandatory parenting classes and counseling, to fines and jail time for them.

Prior to these new measures, police could only cite a parent and order them to appear before a municipal court judge after three infractions.

“The goal of this ordinance is not to put parents in jail or to administer fines. Those are the methods of last resort,” Atlanta City Council President Ceasar C. Mitchell said in a statement. “Court is an option only after multiple attempts by Atlanta Public Schools and the Atlanta Police Department to engage the parent in working to improve the attendance of the student.”

The increased penalties follows the council's 2009 legislation that created daytime curfews for 6- to 15-year-olds and forbade them from being in public places during the school day from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Some 90 percent of kids in juvenile detention centers have a history of truancy. Last September, the Georgia Department of Education released a study of truancy that found 10 percent of Georgia students missed at least 15 days of school in the 2010-11 school year.