Boy, 14, Becomes First Truant Sentenced Under New Enforcement Policy

A 14-year-old high school student from Lakewood who defied a court order to attend school has become the first youngster in Los Angeles County to be sentenced under a new anti-truancy program.

Superior Court Judge Marcus Tucker on Monday sentenced the youth, whom authorities identify as Adam R., to five days--including Thanksgiving--in a Compton foster home. It is the maximum sentence allowed by state law.

“The bottom line is that he is either going to school or he is going to juvenile hall,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. David Traum. “We are not trying to punish anyone, but we are not going to forget these cases because they are only truancy cases. We’ve got to establish a bottom line; otherwise these kids will keep on laughing at the whole system.”

Adam was prosecuted for contempt of court under a truancy mediation program in effect since February.

The program, launched as a joint effort with the Los Angeles County Office of Education, seeks to enforce the state Education Code provision requiring daily school attendance by children from ages 6 to 17. A 1988 Supreme Court ruling allows truants to be prosecuted for contempt of court if a student does not obey a judge’s order to return to school.

If Adam still refuses to attend school once he is released, he will again face the judge, who could sentence him to five days in a youth camp, Traum said.

The crackdown also calls for prosecution of parents who contribute to children’s truancy.

Dept. Dist. Atty. Leslie Hanke said that from February until the end of October, the district attorney’s office received more than 420 referrals from county school officials. Of those students, Hanke said, charges have been filed in about 50 cases, many of them against adults.

In June, a Downey woman was prosecuted because her son was absent 55 days this year. The woman was placed on probation for nine months and ordered to attend parenting classes with her 9-year-old son.

Earlier this month, a Glendale woman was charged with failure to comply with the Education Code because her daughter had attended school on only a few days since 1987. She is scheduled to appear in Glendale Municipal Court Dec. 6.

Hanke said most of the children are put on probation on the condition they start going back to school regularly. Until Adam’s case, none of the juvenile cases resulted in sentences because the truants complied with the court order to return to school.

Before the district attorney’s office stepped in, truancy cases were handled by juvenile probation officers, who often were bogged down by other work.

“It was difficult for the probation officers to deal with truancy when they are involved with kids who are involved in heinous crimes,” said Charles Sanacore, Bellflower Unified School District attendance superintendent. “Now we are realizing that these kids, the truants, are the ones who end up being felons if they are not brought back in the classroom. Now we have a chance to get to them before they commit a crime.”

School officials said they feared that every day Adam was away from school, he was in greater danger of becoming a street criminal.

Assistant Principal Richard Pearce of Mayfair High School said he did not know Adam was a chronic truant already on probation when he started school Sept. 12. But it didn’t take school officials long to get the picture.

On Sept. 13, Adam cut sixth period. On Sept. 15, he skipped two class periods, but came to school on Sept. 16 with an excuse. On Sept. 18, he cut two periods. He didn’t show up the rest of the week, Pearce said.

School officials say Adam was first reported as a truant in eighth grade. No action was taken because Adam had run away from home and could not be found. Three months later he returned to school, where he began attending on a regular basis. In 1988-89, Adam skipped a class here and there, and eventually just stopped showing up.

Traum said he has 50 or 60 truancy cases on his desk that need to be reviewed. “Adam’s case is definitely not going to be the last one. I can tell you that.”