Chick Targets Truant Students in West Valley : Education: Councilwoman seeks to enlist local and national help in cracking down on youths who skip classes.

Seeking to crack down on the hundreds of students who skip school in the west San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick plans to enlist help from the police to the White House.

Chick intends to create a task force--to include community Neighborhood Watch members and even President Clinton’s AmeriCorps USA national service group volunteers--to find effective ways to keep students in school and cut down on daytime crime. And she’s not asking for money to do it.

“I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, I’m not trying to create a program that will cost a lot of money,” Chick said. “I’m just trying to reduce the truancy rate in an effective way.”

While the task force will try to expand programs already working on some campuses, it will likely begin at Canoga Park High School. Principal Larry Higgins, whose campus is situated next to a mall, said he welcomes the help.

“Anything to do with student attendance and truancy, I want to be a part of,” Higgins said. “What has hurt us the most recently is the weather--kids went home in droves when it rained.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District receives state per-pupil funding based on excused absences. The district does not receive funds for truants--students without an excused absence approved by a parent or guardian.

On an average annual basis, 4% of the students in the district were considered truant last year, officials said.

Chick said she intends to involve local businesses in her effort. She said too often teen-agers are congregating in mini-malls and shops near the schools, and that the business owners should realize that they are contributing to the problem.

“They’re becoming a target for graffiti, gang activity,” she said. “Yes, they’re making some money but they’re also losing some customers. Kids are loitering around these places.”

The task force will be formed in the next several weeks and plans will be made to begin the pilot program. Chick said the Los Angeles Police Department also will be involved.

Administrators say truancy is often a symptom of other problems--academic and emotional--making it difficult for schools alone to handle.

Howard Reisbord, the assistant principal at Taft High School, said new programs could be effective but students have to be willing to change their behavior. The truancy rate at Taft, on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, varies depending on the weather and the day, Reisbord said.

“Until that kid is willing to come halfway, you have a tough battle on your hands,” he said. “I think truancy is one of the most frustrating problems we face--there are so many reasons. I think a lot of these kids just take the path of least resistance.”