Posted on: Thursday, January 30, 2003

EDITORIAL
Parents must take control of truancy

For decades, we've wrung our hands about the problem of truancy in the schools. No one wants to fit schoolchildren with electronic monitoring devices, nor should they be. But something's got to give.

For example, Wai'anae High School Vice Principal Scott Moore notes that more than 200 students in his school are absent at least 10 days each quarter. That's a lot of hooky.

As it stands in Hawai'i, failing to keep a child in school is a petty misdemeanor that is handled by Family Court. To some, the system is adequate, and others want a law that holds the parents of kids who play excessive hooky accountable to a greater degree.

And so a group of lawmakers headed by legislative newcomer Rep. Maile Shima-bukuro, D-45th (Wai'anae, Makaha) has introduced a bill that would fine parents or guardians $100 to $900 if they fail to keep their chronically truant offspring in school. Further penalties would include community service for parents, detention for truants and suspension of driver's licenses.

There is some logic to this proposal, since we already hold parents legally liable for the actions of their minor children. But as much as we want to see parents take responsibility for their children, this measure may create as many problems as it solves.

Truancy is a particular problem in homes where parents are missing, either because they are working two jobs to keep the rent paid or have problems of their own. Fining these people won't resolve the struggles in their lives that leave their children unsupervised.

We share the frustration of school officials who see so many students drifting in and out of class almost at will. If a new system of fines and sanctions would guarantee that those students stay in school, we'd be all for it.

But the reality is that truancy, like so many complicated social problems, cannot be solved simply by passing a law.