Huntington Beach : Students Who Boycott Classes to Be Truant

A policy to treat all students who boycott classes as truants has been adopted by the Huntington Beach Union High School District, but administrators had varying interpretations of the policy.

Last week, thousands of students boycotted classes at many of the district’s seven schools in support of teachers involved in bitter contract negotiations with the administration.

On Friday, Supt. Marie Otto sent a letter to parents of all district students stating, “Absences for any reason other than such things as illness or court appearance will be considered truancies . . . . (Students) are expected to be in school as usual.”

After a student walkout at Huntington Beach High School last Thursday and Friday, several teachers said determinations of whether students were truants were made capriciously.

Teacher Enid Leigh said some students who participated in the strike, then returned with letters from their parents, received excused absences, while others were treated as truants, and in some cases punished with detention.

“The discrepancies don’t make any sense at all,” said another teacher, Marvin Shumate. “It’s a totally inconsistent policy (and) a real problem on . . . campus.”

Some administrators, however, had a different interpretation of the policy as spelled out in the letter. Glen H. Dysinger, the district’s assistant superintendent for administrative services, said parental requests to keep students out of school because of a strike will not be honored. But all other parental requests for absences--including those giving no reason--will be accepted, he said.

And Principal Ann N. Chlebicki said, “To the best of my knowledge, students who came back and said they were absent because they were sympathetic with the teachers’ positions were treated as truants.”

Supt. Otto said that if there are inconsistencies, “we’ll work on it. All kids who didn’t have a legitimate family reason for staying out will be treated as truant. We’re not trying to punish kids because they tried to do something in support of the teachers. We’re just saying, ‘that’s not an adequate reason.’ ”