Neighborhood Safety > Tackling Chronic School Absenteeism

The San Francisco District Attorney's Office, in partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District, recently sent letters to parents educating them about the problem of chronic school absenteeism in San Francisco, and warning them of the consequences. If you have questions or need additional information, please contact 415-701-STAY and read below for a list of frequently asked questions. Please click here to read more about the issue and here for SFUSD's flowchart of truancy procedures.

Truancy is the unexcused or unverified absence from school, or class, without proper consent from the school principal or personnel.

 

According to California law, children between 6 and 18 years of age must attend school, with a limited number of exceptions.  Under state law, a student who, without a valid excuse, is absent from school for three full days in one school year is considered truant.  Under the State Education Code, a student with unexcused absences totaling 10 or more days of school is considered a “habitual truant.” A “chronic truant” is a student who had unexcused absences of 20 or more days. 

 

The District Attorney’s Office has been working with the school district to hold mediation sessions with parents and truant students. The goal of the Office and the School District is to ensure that children are going to school. For that reason, the two offices will continue to work with parents and students to get them back in school.

 

However, if habitual or chronic students continue to remain truant, despite repeated attempts to work with the students and their families, please know that the matter may be referred to the District Attorney and the courts. The California Education and Penal codes provide for serious consequences if convicted, and punishment can include up to a year in county jail and a fine of $2,500. 

 

 

Data shows that truancy is an alarming problem in San Francisco’s schools at all levels. San Francisco’s truancy is worse than the statewide average and worse than Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles and San Diego counties. Last school year alone, there were nearly 5,500 habitual or chronic truants in San Francisco schools, 10% of San Francisco’s total student body. Of those, nearly 2,500 (44%) were elementary school students. Two-thirds of habitually and chronically truant students in San Francisco schools are African American or Latino.

 

The law recognizes that it is a crime for children to go uneducated. Elementary school students who develop truancy as a habit increasingly fall behind in middle school and high school, with lifelong consequences.  Children who do not graduate from high school are far less likely to find a living wage job.  According to the U.S. Department of Justice, "students with the highest truancy rates have the lowest academic achievement rates, and because truants are the youth most likely to drop out of school, they have high drop-out rates as well." It is estimated that that high school dropouts cost Californians over $46 billion over the lifetimes of the 120,000 students who fail to graduate from each class, including nearly $10 billion from increased crime alone. Research shows that there is a strong connection between truancy and crime:

 

§         Children who do not graduate from high school are far more likely to be arrested for crime and also to become victims of violence

§         Over the last four years, 94% of San Francisco’s homicide victims under the age of 25 were high school drop-outs.

§         Researchers estimate that an increase of 10 percentage points in graduation rates would cut murders and assaults by 20 percent.

§         75 % of truants will drop out of high school.

§         75 % of our nation's incarcerated criminals were habitual truants.

 

The School District is ready and willing to work with you to resolve attendance problems as early as possible. Help is available at 415-701-STAY (7829). Please call to start getting assistance or if you have any questions.