By Carmen Rodgers
Elmore Autauga News
District Judge Ben Baxley took office of juvenile court judge in May of last year and is a longtime supporter of education. He and other county officials are now taking steps to lower the truancy rate in Elmore County. Truancy has long been a challenge for educators, however, the stats presented at Tuesday’s press conference show a significant uptick in absenteeism.
According to Baxley, during the 2023/24 school year there were 30 truancy petitions issued. This year, there were 126.
“That’s a 320 percent increase,” Baxley said. “You’re going to hear two terms. One is truancy and the other is chronic absenteeism.”
Under state law, seven or more unexcused absences constitute truancy.
“We also issued 16 parental responsibility warrants,” Baxley said.
However, Judge Baxley along with juvenile court officials and the Elmore County and Tallassee BOE have made great strides to turn those stats around.
Increased code enforcement efforts have significantly reduced absenteeism and improved student attendance. In some areas, absenteeism has dropped by as much as 35%. Additionally, the number of students with zero unexcused absences has risen by up to 59%.
Elmore County has an early warning system in place. Once a student has seven unexcused absences, the parents are invited to a truancy hearing, where school officials talk to them in an effort to create a corrective action plan.
Baxley explained that to proactively prevent truancy, parents of students with unexcused absences will soon be invited to a truancy hearing before their child reaches a seventh unexcused absence.
“In the past, parents were invited to court once their child reached the magic number seven,” he said. “If we want to prevent truancy, we should try that earlier, so we moved that back to five.”
This effort to combat truancy and chronic absenteeism in Elmore County is a collective effort.
In some cases, truancy and chronic absenteeism can lead to juvenile detention.
“We had a need for additional juvenile detention space. The County Commission stepped up and authorized that for us,” Baxley said.
Elmore County Superintendent, Richard Dennis, spoke about truancy and chronic absenteeism. According to Dennis, there are 11,000 students enrolled in Elmore County Schools with 470 students enrolled in virtual classes.
“Our Virtual School in Elmore County has over 470 students. We apply attendance rules to it, because you have to be actively engaged in an activity to actually make headway in that program area,” Dennis said. He said regular attendance is crucial to student success.
“The students who were absent on a regular basis were the ones who were on the failure list at the end of the school year. It’s not rocket science. If you’re there and engaged, you’re going to be successful and pass,” Dennis explained.
Each year, each school in the system receives a report card. Absenteeism can impact a school on that annual report card.
“We’ve done well on our report cards, but attendance is a factor, and it has impacted our schools in the past,” Dennis said.
Communication between students, parents, facility, and staff is important and it is something that the Elmore County BOE aims to continue to facilitate moving forward. While the BOE aims to openly communicate with parents, parents need to listen to the message they are sending.
“We’ve been working on making sure that we work on our lines of communication to our parents, we’re going to continue to do that, but at the same time, parents, please make sure you understand this is a serious issue,” Dennis said.
Representatives from Tallassee City Schools spoke about the school system’s recent improvements in truancy and chronic absenteeism. At TCS, 59.1 percent of students have zero absences. According to the South Side Middle School Principal, Brittany Spencer, this is something to celebrate.
“I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed watching our community come together and rally behind the idea of coming to school,” Spencer said.
Elmore County District Attorney CJ Robinson spoke about the county’s juvenile court system and how those who operate that system have gotten it right for many years.
“When you start talking about the education professionals, law enforcement, you talk about like the juvenile probation officers in dealing with three counties. I can tell you that I wish I could cut and paste the template to the other counties,” Robinson said.
Robinson also said the current system is working and the coming improvements will only make the system stronger.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said. “I think you can truly say that this is a group that says ‘The things that are working, that’s great. But the areas that we need to improve in, we need to figure out a way to meet those needs’.”
According to Robinson, there are some cases where students cannot get to school. In those cases, help is available, such as the health and family officers with the Board of Education, and school counselors. The Elmore County Family Resource Center also has resources available to those who may be struggling with regular attendance.
“There are students and there are families that have needs, and maybe have trouble meeting those needs. There are resources out there,” Robinson said.
For those who continue to ignore the law, there are consequences of which parents and guardians should be aware.
“As with any crime, a warrant is obtained and issued,” Baxley explained. “That person is arrested. They would be entitled to bond, or bail, assuming they are not a flight risk or a danger. They would then come to court to have their day in court. They would be represented by council if they choose to, or if the court appoints one. And, we would have a trial. If they are convicted, they could get probation or they could get up to 90 days in jail.”
