Commerce High School's principal says his school district has not referred any student to prosecution in the year since Texas repealed harsh anti-truancy laws.
Steve Drummond told KETR that his school was using different methods to encourage attendance. In avoiding prosecutions, the school is saving time and resources, he said.
"We ended up having to do all the community service ourselves here. So, it's just not really an avenue we're pursuing that aggressively anymore," Drummond said.
Along with Wyoming, Texas was one of only two states that routinely prosecuted students for truancy. In 2015, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law repealing harsh penalties for unexcused absences. Schools are now expected to form plans to encourage attendance rather than punish truancy afterwards.
One option is referring students to an attendance committee before assigning credit.
"A lot of times, just the fear of losing credit will encourage parents and students to get back in school," Drummond told KETR.
On Tuesday, the Dallas Independent School District released a 24-point plan on dealing with truancy. It says its efforts reduced cases of truancy by the thousands.
But Drummond said that in Commerce, attendance is about the same as before the changes. And that's because, he believes, administrators in Hunt County schools were still themselves required to punish truancy even when cases went through courts.
"Even before the law was changed, that was usually the judge giving him a stern talking to, and then putting it on the school district to assign them community service hours that we had to track and monitor. So, for the district, it really wasn't much help anyway," he said.
"The legislature felt like it was an unfair rap on some kids to get a record when they were 15, 16 years old. But as an educator and an administrator, I also understand the importance of coming to school for your future. And ultimately, as long as our parents and students understand that, I think we're going to be OK in Commerce."
