News Details (Posted: April 21, 2008):

Skipping School Lands Some Jefferson County Parents in Jail

Full Description:

The county's school systems and juvenile court officials have expanded the prosecution of parents for violating Alabama's school attendance law, which requires all children ages 7-16 to attend school or receive full-time tutoring.

Parents can be arrested after their children have at least 15 unexcused absences in a school year. They face up to 90 days in jail and a $100 fine.

Court records show parental prosecutions in Jefferson County truancy cases are up from 12 to 82 over the last two years.

A 1991 state law allows parents to face charges in juvenile court if their children are habitual truants. But prosecutions in Jefferson County focused on the parents of students younger than 12. In truancy cases involving students 12-16, only the child was taken to court.

Circuit Judge Brian Huff warned in May that any parent covered by the compulsory attendance law would be prosecuted.

Huff, the presiding judge in Jefferson County Family Court, says court officials have asked the attendance officers in each school system to look at the child's history.

Huff says: "We often find a truancy pattern as far back as the second grade. Any reasonable person can figure out where the problem lies: with the parent."