Kindergarten is not required in Georgia and you don't even have to start school until a child is 6 legally, so to put a mom in jail or fine her for her 5 year old missing school is absurd. I can see a other grades but to enforce that on kindergarten students parents is unjust.

They werent arrested because their kids skipped school...they were ordered to appear in court to explain why the kids had missed so much school. They skipped court. If you skip court, the judge issues a bench warrant for your arrest on contempt of court charges. Thats why these women were arrested.

My experience is purely anecdotal, but I remember seeing two guys at 35 who had dropped out at 16 from my school--they had few marketable skills, low-wage jobs being a carpenter's dummie, and drinking problems. I believe those statistics may be telling the truth about long-term consequences.

In regards to Kindergarten....No. If the parent(who has custody) does not avail themselves of counseling remedies, any monetary entitlements they have need to be reduced by a formula to be established by the courts. If the kid is uncontrollable after cooperation by the parent, they need to become a ward of the state. It's time to crack down on potential society dropouts and future criminals....political correctness notwithstanding.

The Kindergarten case was pretty lame; however, the mother should not have registered her child if she wasn't going to send. Missing court is never a good thing.

I feel that if the parent has no control over the attendance, then the child should be punished not the parent.

As I said in the article... the city council tries to work with the court system, the school and the police to first offer social services to parents before imposing any penalties. It seems that by the time it gets to the point that they are being called to court, parents of truant students would have been offered plenty of help and services to get their kid back on track. At what point do we make the children accountable for their own actions? I know that I don't think that a 6 year old should be punished by law for truancy. I'm sure that this ordinance was designed as a wake up call to parents to pay attention to where their kids are but it seems a bit harsh to me. I'm not sure what a better answer could be to help the at-risk kids. Anybody have any great ideas that might be more effective and less harsh? I'd love to discuss other options.

If they really don't want to send them to school, for older kids, the parent could let them do homeschool online. Make it a condition of them being able to stay home alone that they do their work and don't misbehave, or else they will get sent back to regular school. A middle school kid or older should be able to be home alone. What the heck, with online school they could wait and do their work in the evening when the parent was home to supervise. And if the parent works evening or nights anyway, the arrangement would be close to perfect. I know I would have liked to miss a lot of school in middle school what with all the bullying. I'm also pretty sure that homeschool lessons don't take all day like going to school does. Just a suggestion for a possible solution.

As a retired school teacher, I know the havoc excessive absences can have on a child's academic performance. But it seems that one of the underlying reasons middle/high school kids start skipping out is because they fall behind and it creates a vicious cycle .. .I'm behind/unmotivated so I'm going to cut classes, etc. Punishing the parents, without knowing their specific circumstances seems to be moving in the wrong direction. This is a case where "it takes a village" to get good results. Now, if parents of kids whose kids attend school 95% of the time got a few coupons or bonuses... perhaps they'd be more encouraging and accountable for attendance? (Just kidding).

BtW, thanks for mentioning that the parents were arrested because they had failed to show up for court. That's a small but important detail!

I can see holding parents legally responsible in grade school. But by high school, the child needs to take the consequences of his/her own behavior.

I'd send my kids to school for coupons. :) In all seriousness, the punishment is harsh because it's the easiest way to prove a point. They want the kids to go to school to stop the cycle of crime and poverty, but they can't or won't take the time to work with each family to make attendance easier. Education is important.

Until the child is 18 years old, the PARENTS are responsible to send their child to school. The parents definitely need to be held accountable, especially in elementary. Once a child gets to middle and high school, they need to suffer the consequences as well. I had this very discussion with my son this morning who was complaining he didn't want to go to school today. "Why do I have to go to school?" My reply...because it's your job, just like I get up and go to work every day. You have to instill good "work" habits now so they can become productive members of society one day. These kids that skip school will have horrible attendance records at work and can risk losing a job for poor attendance. I just don't understand parents these day.

I think the research presented in the article is a bit of a stretch. The absences in kindergarten and 1st grade are not the direct cause of the lower points on the third grade reading test. A lot more goes on in a child's life that can contribute to their ability to perform well on a third grade reading test. But, the absenses are a clear indicator that something is going on at home that is preventing the child from attending school on a regular basis. That makes it more likely that the home environment is troubled and likely not very condusive for the development of good study habits. And THAT might have a more likely impact on the student's test scores.

This article does make me wonder... has anyone mentioned this ordinance to the DeKalb County School Board? I believe they wanted to cut 9 days of instruction this year and there is clearly no good excuse for that. They are just one day shy of breaking this truency law and should be ordered to appear before the court to explain themselves, don't you think?

You know, with our glorious government giving away money to anyone who'll vote democratic, what incentive do they have to do anything, much less make sure their children are in school? IMO, most of these people don't care about their children anyway, they're just a tool to get more money from our glorious government. Stop the giveaway programs and you'll go a long way in improving attendance in our schools; however, this may take a generation or two.