Timberlane relies on police to handle truancy

From the Eagle-Tribune;

Timberlane relies on police to handle truancy
By Meghan Carey
mcarey@eagletribune.com

PLAISTOW, N.H. — One middle-schooler had a strange wake-up call Wednesday morning.

His mother called police at 7:22 a.m. because he wouldn't get out of bed, according to Deputy Chief Kathleen Jones. The student may have been tardy for the school day's 7:30 a.m. start, but he went.

"This happens once and a while," Jones said. "Kids refuse to go to school or won't get up. ... We will generally send an officer out. I'd say 99 percent of the time, the child then complies and will go to school."

The Timberlane Regional School Board voted in May to hire a truant officer on a contractual basis to help get more students into their seats. But police are still acting as the district's truant officers, Jones said.

School Board member Michael Mascola said yesterday he hadn't heard that the position had been filled.

The district has had $1,100 in its budget for a truant officer for a few years now, but never hired anyone.

Truancy becomes habitual at 20 1/2 absences or when the school disagrees with a parent's excuse for an absent student.

Last year, at least 13 students at the high school were habitually truant. That number was down from 28 and 33 students in the two prior years.

The school district lets the Police Department know of any students who have frequent truancy problems, Jones said. School Resource Officer Joan Marsilia then handles those cases at the high school and Sgt. Glenn Miller — the department's juvenile prosecutor — handles the middle school cases, she said.

But any police officer can take care of a random call about a sleepy student.

"We all work together," Jones said.

If and when the school district hires a truant officer, police would be called in only if that person thought the issue went beyond a child not wanting to attend school, she said. Police would step in if a child was being abused, neglected or involved with drugs or alcohol.

Superintendent Richard La Salle did not return phone calls yesterday.