They plan a vote on this ordinance this coming Monday, December 3rd.

From the Lincoln Courier Did someone say truancy?
Published Saturday, December 01, 2007

Illinois focus on homeschoolers-as-truants continues
It is about freedom
Daytime Curfews-HEM News and Commentary
Curfews and Homeschoolers, by Larry and Susan Kaseman
Daytime Curfew, Corn and Oil blog
Being a kid is not a crime, Ann Zeise

Posted by Susan Ryan

AHTD agrees to install stop light at Colt, 9 November 2007, Times-Herald – Forrest City, Arkansas

Council members also heard second readings of an ordinance to outlaw the burning of tires inside of city limits, along with inoperable vehicles and an ordinance establishing a daytime curfew during school days.

posted by Valerie

What you need to know this week, 6 November 2007, Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California

The council Monday will consider changing the city’s daytime curfew regulations to allow students absent from school without a valid excuse to be cited anywhere they are found.

Folsom Cordova Unified School District officials requested the change to bring Rancho Cordova’s regulations in line with those in the city of Folsom, according to a staff report. Currently, students in Rancho Cordova can be cited for daytime curfew violation only if they are found in public places during school hours.

School Attendance Improvement Handbook, California Department of Education

Citation

As a result of 1995 amendments to the Welfare and Institutions Code, the Education Code, and the Vehicle Code, cities and counties can enact anti-truancy laws and daytime loitering ordinances.

The new curfew law adds Section 625.5 to the Welfare and Institutions Code. It authorizes cities that have enacted an ordinance regarding curfews for minors to collect a fee for the actual costs of detention and transportation. The bill requires a warning citation to be issued that explains the consequences of a second violation.

Vehicle Code

Section 13202.7 of the Vehicle Code states that a pupil who has attended a SARB program, a probation department program, or a truancy mediation and is again truant is subject to suspension or revocation of all his or her driving privileges and must surrender her or his license. If the minor is not yet driving, his or her right to do so may be postponed for one year. For additional time the minor is found to be truant, the court can add another year of waiting time for driving privileges. The suspension shall be in addition to any other penalty imposed on the minor. Other penalties can include a fine of not more than $100, for which the parents or guardian are jointly liable, and/or a summons to attend a court-approved truancy program.

Daytime Curfew

The city of Millbrae has established a daytime curfew similar to those in other cities, including Los Angeles, Fontana, Folsom, Rialto, and Adelanto. The daytime curfew/loitering ordinances allow police to cite truants and refer them to traffic court, where they may also face revocation of driving privileges. In cases of students with excessive citations, parents are fined from $250 to $1,000 and mandated to perform 20 to 120 hours of community service. Due to year-round school scheduling, districts have created identification cards for all students to identify the different track dates.

posted by Valerie

Colerain considers daytime curfew, 18 September 2007, Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, Ohio

Stay home. Stay out of trouble.

That’s the message Colerain Township’s wants to send with proposed daytime curfew on students who are out of school under suspension or simply skipping school.

“This curfew is solely designed to keep kids off the street and to lesson (sic) the amount of daytime crime,” said Police Chief Steven Sarver.

…

“We want kids to know that when you get kicked out of school, it’s not a ticket to run free,” he added. “It can be a ticket to disaster.”

Township trustees want to hear from the public before they bring the curfew to a vote. Public comments will be welcome at the trustees’ meeting at 7 p.m. Sept. 25.

…

“Residents told us they wanted to take back their neighborhoods,’ Sarver said. The police chief heard complaints about vandalism, “kids hanging out on street corners during school hours and houses being broken into during the day.”

Colerain police have not compiled statistics on daytime crimes committed by juveniles. But the department has heard enough complaints, Sarver said, to warrant drafting a proposed daytime curfew.

…

The daytime curfew would run from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday when school is in session and cover children ages 6 through 17.

“We went with the legal ages that require kids to be in school,” Sarver said.

posted by Valerie

Daytime curfew ordinance spurring lively debate, 18 September 2007, Waco Tribune Herald, Waco, Texas

A lively debate over a new daytime curfew is likely to erupt during today’s Waco City Council meeting, though an initial vote on the proposed ordinance isn’t expected until October.

…

Reaction to the ordinance, which would require any student younger than age 17 to be in school from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on regular school days, has been mixed. However, many parents who home-school their children have opposed the ordinance because of concerns it would trample their children’s civil liberties.

A contingent of home-school parents is expected to speak against the ordinance during the public comment portion of today’s council’s meeting.

Home-school parent Karen Derrick-Davis, who plans to attend the meeting, said she doesn’t see how Waco police can be expected to enforce the ordinance when they’re stretched as thin as they are. She also said she opposed restricting the rights of all students when only a few are blamed for causing trouble during school hours.

posted by Valerie

With few complaints on table, curfew ordinance faces review, 13 September 2007, LubbockOnline.com, Lubbock, Texas

Lubbock’s juvenile curfew will be up for review at today’s City Council meeting.

The ordinance, which prohibits residents 16 years old or younger from being out late at night or during school hours, has been on the books since 1995. State law requires it to be reviewed every three years.

…

Tim Lambert, president of the Texas Home School Coalition, which is based in Lubbock, said there haven’t been problems locally in the past few years. The ordinance has a provision that allows students to be out during the day with permission of school administrators – which includes home schoolers.

Alum throws hat in ring for city council seat, 10 September 2007, Valley Vanguard, Saginaw Valley State University, University Center, Michigan

Saginaw’s City Council may undergo a major roster change this November: SVSU alumnus Dennis Woods is running for a seat, and hopes to change the way the council works.

…

Woods also wants to establish a daytime curfew for Saginaw’s youth, strengthening the city’s truancy laws already in effect and encouraging young people to stay in school.

“I would like to start a daytime curfew for children, because I believe that school is very important,” Woods said.
- MI,USA Woods also wants to establish a daytime curfew for Saginaw’s youth, strengthening the city’s truancy laws already in effect and encouraging young people to … See all stories on this topic

posted by Valerie

Daytime curfew details become public this week, 4 September 2007, Waco Tribune Herald, Waco, Texas

Although the school year began without it, a daytime curfew designed to keep students off Waco streets during school hours could be in place this fall, say officials developing the proposed city ordinance.

However, the pace at which the curfew moves forward will depend largely on the response the public gives to a draft of the city ordinance during upcoming public forums. Parents and community members will have several opportunities over the next two weeks to sound off on the proposed ordinance, which is designed to return truant students to class when police find them outside of school.

…

The ordinance would require any student younger than age 17 to be in school from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on regular school days unless they meet specific exemptions. Home-school students, students pursuing dual-credit off campus and those allowed to eat lunch off campus would be exempted for those activities, McDurham said.

…

Key to making the daytime curfew work for those students with exemptions to be out of school will be a system to identify where they are supposed to be if found off campus. McDurham said Waco ISD has agreed to provide ID cards to any school or home-school student who would like to have one.

The card would say where the student is supposed to be during certain times of the day or identify them as a home-school student. If parents of home-schooled students decline to request a badge, a note written by a parent would be sufficient to explain the student’s circumstance, McDurham said.

Although parents who home school their children have expressed concern about how the proposed curfew would affect their students, the concept so far has garnered support, McDurham said.

Information on daytime curfews:

• Curfews and Homeschoolers, by Larry and Susan Kaseman
• Daytime Curfew, Corn and Oil blog
• Daytime curfews used against homeschoolers, California Catholic Daily
• Eliminating Daytime Curfews, VAHomeschoolers
• Being a kid is not a crime, Ann Zeise

posted by Valerie

A report on the public hearing held by the Harris County Juvenile Curfew Review Committee, 29 August 2007, Harris County, Texas

The Harris County Juvenile Curfew Review Committee was formed to research the need for the curfew and will make its recommendation to the Harris County Commissioners Court within a few days. The Court is scheduled to vote on the curfew at its September 11th session, though that vote could be delayed if more information is needed before voting. Currently, the ordinance includes a night-time curfew only, from midnight to 6 a.m. The District Attorney’s office is recommending that the curfew be expanded to cover the hours between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.

…

Law enforcement officials want a daytime curfew, so that they can have probable cause to stop young people who are not in class during school hours. At this time, police officers report that many young people claim to be home-schoolers when stopped, leaving the police officer with no justifiable reason to inquire further about the young person’s activities. According to the District Attorney, many daytime home burglaries are committed by those under the age of 17. It is law enforcement’s hope that a daytime curfew will allow police officers to get many young burglars off the streets before they are able to commit crimes.

…

About 35 to 40 people attended the public hearing. Eight of them, all home-schoolers, spoke in opposition to the extended curfew, none in support.

Information on daytime curfews is at:

• NewsComm: Texas daytime curfew challenged
• HEM: Curfews and Homeschoolers
• HEM: Nighttime Curfews or You Wanna Do What to my Kid?
• Virginia Homeschoolers: Eliminating Daytime Curfews
• Libertarian Rock: Curfews
• St. Petersburg Times (Florida): Court says no to cities’ curfews
• Home Education.org, UK, Day Time Curfews

Hat tips to the folks on HEM-Networking, Susan, Helen (of our fair magazine), Mary, Stephanie, and Terri.

posted by Valerie

Council to again consider juvenile curfew, 22 April 2007, The Herald Banner, Greenville, Texas The current ordinance, which has been in place for the past dozen years, contains no language specifying whether home-schooled children are exempt from the daytime portion of the curfew, a fact which had caught one Council member’s attention. …

Council member Chris Bracken asked at the April 10 session whether the ordinance exempted home schooled children from the daytime curfew. Bracken said he had been contacted by representatives of home schools in Greenville, along with the Texas Home School Coalition, who believed the daytime curfew was unfair to their students, who generally were under no regulations to remain at their residences during what are typically school hours.

Bracken also noted how under state law, municipalities are forbidden from regulating home school operations.

posted by Valerie

Following up on the post that Valerie made of Illinois focus on homeschoolers-as-truants continue, I ran into an editorial from the Lincoln Courier titled Be careful with truancy ordinance.

Published Saturday, April 14, 2007

When a dozen parents of home schooled children show up at a Lincoln City Council committee meeting, something must be in the wind.
The parents were there because the city council and the Logan County Board are considering a truancy ordinance.
The General Assembly last year modified its truancy law to allow more strict enforcement of truants by authorizing cities and counties to levy fines against truants and their guardians.

The Courier spelled out some legitimate concerns. One of them being this image:

To paraphrase one wag, how do you think a page 1 photograph of Officer Smith, foot propped on, say, a skateboard and writing a ticket out to a 10-year-old would look? “But Officer Smith, I was just going to the library!”

Now imagine Officer Smith doing his duty per a city ordinance, by looking for the Homeschool Badge on said 10 year old. This was suggested by Alderman Wanda Rohlf (retired Lincoln Community High School teacher and counselor). The Lincoln Courier Editor had this to say:

Home schooled kids, just by virtue of being schooled at home, already belong to a group of “different” kids. We see no reason to further single them out for further ostracizing.

Valerie noted that: “It’s one thing, though, to tag people who need authorization to be in a restricted area, and quite another to tag people so they can be in public.”

The L-C editor also suggested the obvious:

Instead, why not restrict the arresting authority to the truant officers? That’s their job and because it is their job, chances are they already know who is truant and who is not and may even know which kids are home schooled.

Taxpayer accountability is an appealing thought for truant officers to find truant students. They are supplied with the names, addresses and phone numbers of enrolled public school students.

One other important quote worth repeating again from the editorial that should always be considered:

It’s about freedom, they say.

Proving the innocence of a homeschooled child while being presumed guilty walking down the street or playing in your front yard doesn’t seem like freedom.

Published by Susan Ryan