By Sherry Larson

People’s Defender

Getting up in the morning and getting ready for school – it’s a typical, five-day-a-week activity for children in kindergarten through 12th grade during the school year. Yet many school districts, including those in Adams County, face massive absenteeism issues that COVID further exacerbated.

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) reports, “Ohio, like the rest of the United States, has an attendance crisis. Based on emerging data, it is estimated chronic absence has doubled across the county. In Ohio, 30% of students are chronically absent, up from 16.7% before the pandemic.”

Tracy Spires, Director of State and Federal Programs and Truancy Compliance for Adams County Ohio Valley School District, said, “We mainly focus on habitual truancy.” If a child misses 30 consecutive hours of school, 42 hours a month, or 72 hours a year, they are considered habitually truant. ODE considers 18 days of absence (10% of the school year) a chronic absence. This chronic absence situation is “an effective early indicator that the students are headed off track academically.”

“We typically file truancy on the 72 (12 days) and a year,” said Spires. She reported that they have had a couple of students who have missed nearly three and over three years of school. These children were removed from their homes by Children’s Services after meeting with the school district and continual noncompliance.

It takes extensive coordination to complete credit recovery for students like the ones referenced above. The task is complex but possible, and Spires reported some success.

This issue is not a homeschooling one. These students are not receiving an education from their parents or online learning. During COVID, online learning was the standard in many schools. Three years later, those options are no longer in Adams County, and the protocols for COVID have changed. Spires added, “There has to be significant accountability – you must come back!”

Spires said, “The Prosecuting Attorney’s office has been amazing.” She works with Adams County Prosecutor Aaron Haslam and Chief Juvenile Prosecutor Arianna Bowles Norris. They meet weekly before filing truancy. Spires explained the seriousness of truancy and the willingness of the school district and Prosecutor’s office to help families overcome the obstacles that are preventing their children from attending school.

When Haslam was the Adams County Prosecutor in 2009, one of his primary focuses was truancy. He saw many people coming through the court system that did not have a high school education. This was during the unprecedented opioid crisis in this area, and it was obvious that measures needed to be put in place to get the youth of Adams County educated. Haslam said, “We worked with Judge Spencer and the court to make a real effort.”

Why the push on education? Haslam, reporting an old statistic used then, said they would make a million dollars more over their lifetime if “we can just get them to graduation.” Education and the ability to get a job were the goal to keep these young people from ending up in the court system as adults. Haslam explained that they wanted people to have an education, hope and opportunity. The push for school attendance then proved successful, and the truancy rates decreased significantly.

Fast forward to COVID in 2020 and 2021 – it changed the world. Although there were truancy issues before the epidemic, extreme cases surfaced after the epidemic. When Haslam was reappointed as Prosecutor in 2023, he knew truancy would again be a primary focus.

Coordinating with Spires, Haslam wanted to offer mediation for truancies at the courthouse, and he wanted to send a message – “there would be consequences if you don’t send your children to school.” However, more than consequences, Haslam wants parents and caregivers to know that resources are available to them. “We’re not looking to punish parents. We’re not looking to punish children. First and foremost, we want kids to go to school.” Once barriers are addressed, parents and older students will be held accountable for disregarding school attendance. Haslam explained that if they don’t have a resource readily available to overcome a barrier, they will find one.

Truancy proves to be the symptom of a bigger underlying problem. Haslam and Norris explained that much of the time, that problem is drugs. Norris also noted that many caregivers are not parents. She said, “More than 50% of our mediation is with grandparent caregivers.” Spires mentioned a lack of parental authority and parents who regard themselves as their child’s friend rather than the parent. Norris reported that many caregivers tell them their child is habitually sick. Spires indicated that some present fraudulent medical documents. The district has become vigilant in the processes and double-checks to be sure that documents are valid.

Some youths will work to help with the family’s financial situation. Spires said, “That’s hard to compete against.” Mental health is a vital issue facing some parents and children. Fortunately, the Adams County Health Department has resources available through the University of Cincinnati for youth and adults at school and the courthouse. Students physically fighting in school is another problem that faces the school district.

“Post-COVID people don’t think they have to do what they did before COVID. I don’t think truancy was that bad pre-COVID,” said Haslam, who believes that the truancy issue was a bad “fallout” of the epidemic. Leaders across the United States are working on solutions to the problem. In a recent Washington Post article, Paul Kihn, D.C.’s deputy mayor for education, was quoted as saying, “The pandemic did something to change students and families’ relationships with schools to some degree that we don’t yet fully understand.”

Ohio legislators are currently considering a nonpartisan bill to create a pilot program to pay children for attending and graduating from high school. They’ve reasoned that other incentives are not working. For more information, visit www.statenews.org.

Haslam, Norris, and Spires are dedicated to seeing attendance rates rise and agree that they are seeing some success. Safeguards are in place to avoid more extreme truancy situations. If a caregiver has difficulty getting a child to attend school, Haslam said to call the Sheriff’s Office and his office. He explained, “We are taking all the excuses away – a child needs to be in school. We’re here to help.”