Susan Ryan at Corn and Oil cautions: “I want to point out again…that the Regional Offices of Education are systematically pushing for daytime curfews in Illinois communities to rein in homeschoolers. It’s all over the state, but quite a few southern Illinois communities in a couple of Regional Offices of Education areas with anti-homeschool agendas have passed curfews in the last few months.” Click on Susan’s link to read much more.
Susan Ryan writes at Corn and Oil:
“I wonder if bureaucracies fail -and homeschoolers prevail- with the continuation of poor fiscal governmental affairs.
“I like how that sounds. Not our sorry Illinois affairs, but that our bureaucracies are breaking down. Something does have to give, rather than constantly getting. Even as many of the involved government employees – real people with real lives and families – must suffer many days of dread and discomfort, I can’t say I’m disturbed to see that some of the Illinois public school bureaucracies are hitting hard times.”
Titled Sorry State Financial Affairs Cause Bureaucratic Breakdown, it’s an interesting and thought-provoking post – as most of Susan’s are. Read it at the link above.
Daytime curfew shines bright in Bedford elections Fort Worth Star-Telegram May 05, 2009
By DIANNA HUNT
Continuing controversy over the curfew has spilled into the campaigns for mayor and two City Council seats.
“It probably did bring some candidates out, initially, and for a couple of them, it’s probably still their main issue,” said Mayor Jim Story, who is running for re-election against political newcomer Kenneth Kimmons.
Says Kimmons: “It is an issue, and I think it’s an important one, but it’s not the only one.”
Accuse an opponent of a one issue candidacy and you could win points. But I have seen activists become involved in one community issue, and then take note of how leaders operate in that and other issues at council meetings. It’s a learning experience waiting for your turn and your issue at City Council meetings. Sometimes it leads you to try making a positive difference by running for office.
From the S-T article:
The council approved an ordinance in September that prohibits people under 17, with a few exceptions, from being in a public place between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on school days. Violators and their parents can be fined up to $500. Businesses are required to alert officials if a youth is on their property during those hours.
The measure has drawn opposition from home-schooling families and civil libertarians, who say the measure erodes personal freedom and forces students, parents and businesses to go to court to prove their innocence. Supporters say the ordinance is having the desired effect of reducing truancy and daytime crime.
Mayor Story said that his leadership “accommodated home-schoolers in the ordinance“. But it appears that Bedford businesses and families (not on the 9-2:30 education schedule) have to continuously respond to authorities if kids go out and about during Bedford school district hours. The public front doesn’t appear to be a business or family friendly community, if anyone asked me.
One City Council candidate, Jason McCaffity, ( a police sergeant) said they should get rid of the daytime curfew.
“This is just another senseless or needless law that is on the books,” he said. “It doesn’t actually address truancy — it makes it illegal for children to be in public in the daytime.”
There are no useful “exemptions” to daytime curfew when you are guilty until proven innocent.
Home Education Magazine January-February 1997
Truancy, Curfews and Our Response- Janie Levine Hellyer
In July, 1996, the U.S. Department of Education in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice issued a “Manual to Combat Truancy.” The manual speaks of truancy as “the first sign of trouble,” and “a gateway to crime.” It encourages communities to involve parents, ensure that students face firm sanctions for truancy, create meaningful incentives for parental responsibility, establish ongoing truancy prevention programs in school, and involve local law enforcement in truancy reduction efforts. The manual then goes on to describe what it calls “successful models of new anti-truancy initiatives” in communities across the nation. Statistics are provided that hold up truancy prevention efforts beside crime reduction figures. Sources for funding, training and technical assistance to communities are offered. In response, communities across the country are setting in place ordinances and regulations. In early October, we asked families to tell us what they were seeing and how the new regulations were affecting their families and communities. [Continue reading the homeschoolers' observations of curfew regulations at the HEM site and within News-Commentary archives.]
Home Education Magazine March-April 1999
Taking Charge- Curfews and Homeschoolers
Larry and Susan Kaseman
As homeschoolers, we need to be informed about daytime curfews for several reasons.* Although only a few communities have enacted curfews so far, the number is increasing.
* Curfews undermine everyone’s basic freedoms.
* Our efforts to oppose curfews are much more likely to be effective if we act now, before curfews are proposed in our community, or at least are prepared to act immediately if they are proposed in our community.
* We may be drawn into debates about how curfews can be made less inconvenient for homeschoolers. This shifts the focus away from the serious issues. There are no “good” curfews. [Continue reading at the site]
Texas homeschoolers have been persistent.
ht to Texan Susan Frederick, on the HEM-Networking list.
Here are some articles on the recent rallies against daytime curfews in Dallas and
Bedford City that were held this past week and linked in THSC‘s latest PAC news.
Opponents of daytime curfew in Bedford plan rally today Star Telegram Mar. 23, 2009
By EVA-MARIE AYALA
“We’re against the government intrusion into parental rights to dictate the activities of our own kids and the punishment of a whole community of kids … in a misguided attempt to catch a couple of truants,” said Anne Gebhart, who is helping to organize the group Tarrant County Citizens Against the Daytime Curfew.
The Bedford council reviewed the ordinance this month after home-schooling families continued to voice concerns. The ordinance does not allow children under 17, with a few exceptions, to be in a public place in Bedford between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on school days.
But Gebhart said that the way the ordinance is written, police officers have discretion as to whether or not to issue a citation. It would be up to families to fight the issue in court, which could be more of a financial burden that the $500 fine issued with the citation.
Guilty until proven innocent. Councilwoman Nail has a concern that would catch taxpayers’ concerns about government accountability:
Councilwoman Lori Nail opposes the ordinance. She does not think it violates civil liberties but thinks it has the city doing what is the school district’s and parents’ responsibility. She also worries that it puts unnecessary fear into home-schoolers.
The ACLU organizer has another legitimate concern about law enforcement’s attentions:
Tracey Hayes, field organizer for ACLU of Texas, said such ordinances unnecessarily criminalize children. She said in extreme cases, police in some cities have waited at nearby high schools and cited students who were late to school for breaking curfew. She said it takes law enforcement’s attention away from calls about burglaries or vandalism.
Demonstrators rally against Bedford daytime curfew Star Telegram Mar. 23, 2009
By EVA-MARIE AYALA
Chloe Kozak, 13, said daytime curfews make her very nervous.
She and her sister are home-schooled, and often they go on field trips to museums or businesses.
“One police officer did question me to ask why I wasn’t in school once,” she said. “It just makes me wary against ever going out on field trips.”
The Kozak family was among about 50 people rallying Monday against such ordinances at Bedford City Hall. The family lives in Euless, which has a daytime curfew, and father Robert Kozak said he worries that other cities will adopt similar measures.
“The girls went to the King Tut exhibit in Dallas, but if that city adopts the curfew too, they won’t be able to do things there any more because they will constantly be under suspicion,” he said.
Families planned on speaking against Bedford’s ordinance at the City Council meeting last Monday. The curfew was approved in September and prohibits most children under age 17 from being in public places between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
ACLU also planned a Dallas rally. Again, it appears that “defenses to prosecution” mean those issued a citation will need to tell it to the judge, along with the ensuing legal representation fees, et al. Even if there were exemptions, freedom of movement by law abiding citizens is limited if one has a youthful appearance during school hours.
ACLU to stage rally today against Dallas’ daytime curfew ordinance proposal Dallas Morning News Mar 23, 2009
Dave Levinthal/Reporter
The groups are upset that Dallas wants to extend its nighttime juvenile
curfew into daytime hours.“This is just one more way to criminalize youthful behavior and turn
kids going about the daily business of their lives to problem behavior
down the road. Ordinances like this transform law-abiding youth into
law-breakers,” ACLU of Texas Executive Director Terri Burke wrote in a
statement.
Residents, Dallas City Council members spar over daytime juvenile curfew ordinance Dallas Morning News Mar 25, 2009
Dave Levinthal/Reporter
Dallas resident Mark McCollom later argued that if the proposed ordinance is passed, “the consequences to [children] for one or two stupid mistakes could be devastating. The police have the tools today.”
District 14 council member Hunt, for her part, asked police if the majority of daytime burglaries are committed by males. Yes, police officials responded – the vast majority.
“Then, if our idea is let’s get people off the street who might commit burglaries or might commit criminal acts, I’ve got an idea, guys: Let’s put down a law that is a daytime and a nighttime curfew for men,” Hunt said. “I mean, guys, this is a slippery slope.”
Today, police may detain children suspected of skipping school, but typically return them to a Dallas school campus. No fine is involved and children do not face a court date.
Dallas law does include a nighttime curfew for juveniles, mandating that they’re off Dallas city streets between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 12:01 a.m. and 6 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
The Dallas daytime curfew vote is scheduled in May.
Regarding nighttime curfews, in 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided that Curfews on minors violate [the] First Amendment [ Wisconsin Law Journal 28-JAN-04 Byline: David Ziemer]
Below are some excerpts from the Hodgkins v. Peterson Appeals Court ruling:
…the plaintiffs claim that the curfew regulation creates a “chill” that imposes on their First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court has often noted that a realistic threat of arrest is enough to chill First Amendment rights.
More from the Hodgkins vs. Peterson case ruling:
…the new curfew leaves minors on their way to or from protected First Amendment activity vulnerable
to arrest and thus creates a chill that unconstitutionally imposes on their First Amendment rights. Consequently, we reverse the decision of the district court.
Continuing from Texas, a heads up for San Antonio was issued by THSC. Some county leaders want to add a daytime curfew to their current nighttime curfew:
Yesterday we learned that county commissioners in Bexar County (San
Antonio) will consider adding a daytime curfew to their nighttime
curfew. According to reports, students will be guilty if they are in
public between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
More information from WOAI 3/25/09 County leaders consider adding daytime curfew for children
I’d be interested in seeing documentation of a judicial shout down of 1st Amendment rights regarding curfews. It appears, in peering around in a non-lawyer sort of way), that if curfews are contested through the court system; parental authority and 1st Amendment comes into play against curfews.
So the existence of curfew regs might be a resulting exhaustion of constituents fighting against a steady stream of new laws and micro-management from government authorities? (In my neck of the woods, Illinois legislators have already introduced almost 7,000 bills this session.)
update:a Dallas daytime curfew article and pics that were too irresistible, including the little girl looking at her sign.)
Outside City Hall Today, An Afterschool Civics Lesson from Daytime Curfew Opponents Dallas Observer Mar. 23 2009
By Patrick Michels
With protest signs, stuffed animals and matching T-shirts, about 40 people — half of them kids — gathered outside Dallas City Hall this afternoon to shout down the daytime curfew proposed as a way to keep kids off the street during school hours.
The ACLU and Citizens Against the Dallas Daytime Curfew, whose advocacy and T-shirts sales we’ve covered previously, held the rally to drum up opposition to the curfew before the Dallas City Council’s public hearing on it Wednesday morning.
Tracey Hayes with the ACLU of Texas said even without the curfew, Dallas police already have plenty of tools to enforce truancy laws. “The only thing this ordinance does is create a new way to give a child, a parent or a business owner a Class C misdemeanor,” she said.
I do have to ask: When is “Afterschool” for homeschoolers?
Posted by Susan Ryan
Austin City Council evaluates juvenile curfew, 18 June 2008, Austin American-Statesman, Austin, Texas
The citywide daytime curfew, meant to keep students in school between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on weekdays when school is in session, would not change.
In a memo to the mayor and council, the city staff said juvenile arrests as a percentage of all arrests have dropped from 12 percent before the curfew was adopted in 1990 to about 7 percent.
Austin police issue more than half of the curfew violation citations during daytime hours.
Debbie Russell, president of the Central Texas Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said she supports the effort to standardize the nighttime curfew citywide but wants the city to abolish the daytime curfew.
She said state laws that took effect Sept. 1 allowing police to take students back to school when they are caught skipping already do enough.
Daytime curfew will give extra push to school, 15 June 2008, Record-Searchlight, Redding, California
Seeking a new tool to fight chronic truancy, school superintendents and the city of Redding have drawn up a plan to extend the long-existing nighttime curfew for children and teenagers to weekdays.
When school’s in session, youths who haven’t graduated or don’t have a good reason for not being in class will be subject to tickets — with fines ranging up to $250 and 20 hours of community service. Their parents, after repeated warnings, could face misdemeanor criminal charges.
Council approves citywide curfew for children, 18 June 2008, KXAN-TV, Austin, Texas
The City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a citywide curfew for children from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
…
The daytime curfew to keep children in school will not change. It runs from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Homeschoolers oppose daytime curfews, 16 June 2008, The York Dispatch, York, Pennsylvania
West York recently established a daytime curfew, which requires those younger than 18 to stay out of public areas when they are supposed to be in school.
The law allows children to be out with permission from their school or, in the case of homeschoolers, their parents, so Gay’s children were not actually breaking the law.
…
Northern York County Regional Police Chief Carl Segatti said parents have no reason to worry about the daytime curfew. Police already have the right to stop young people and find out whether they should be in school. If necessary, they call a child’s school or parent to check.
…
What a daytime curfew does is let police decide whether to charge someone for being out of school. The current truancy law leaves that decision up to school authorities, Segatti said.
I still wonder what happens to the juvenile crime rate over school breaks and summer vacation.
Curfews, ATVs, noise: Parents, you are responsible, 12 May 2008, Suburbanite, Akron, Ohio
Another issue that can become confusing to parents is the curfew for minors.
Springfield and Lakemore curfews follow the Summit County guidelines. Anyone under the age of 18 is not allowed out from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m. everyday. Lakemore is working to institute a daytime curfew Ray stated. Kids will not be allowed on the streets during school hours.
California:
Illinois:
Ohio:
Pennsylvania:
I’m still reading through the following pieces, but for the also-adventurous, here are some links concerning curfews for juveniles.
In that last one, I found a paragraph in which I concluded that the wrong people were locked up.
In Robinson v. Board of Regents of Eastern Kentucky University, a female student challenged the curfew, arguing that it was unconstitutional because it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.81 The Sixth Circuit upheld the district court’s decision that a curfew that imposes restrictions on women does not constitute an equal protection violation.82 The court reasoned that sex-based classifications are often upheld and explained that equal protection does not require identical treatment.83 The curfew regulation survived the Sixth Circuit’s rational relation test because the state interest in the discriminatory statute was safety: Women are more likely to be attacked and less likely to defend themselves.84 The Sixth Circuit’s safety justification which permitted curfews targeting women effectively kept some young women under lock and key as a precaution against the improper behavior of men.
The women weren’t doing anything wrong, so it should have been the men who were subjected to a curfew. Don’t punish some people for being victims, punish the perps. But I digress.
posted by Valerie
I reported on a previous discussion about truancy and a daytime curfew Lincoln in December 2007.
Truancy debate to be revived, 15 January 2008, Lincoln Courier, Lincoln, Illinois
Heading into a meeting this evening with a city council committee, a group of parents who home-school their children is continuing its plea that a proposed city ordinance on truancy not be construed as “a daytime curfew.”
That point is raised in a letter Ron Denlinger sent …. Denlinger is a spokesman for the home-schoolers, …
Denlinger, who distributed copies of his letter to local news organizations, said he and the other parents realize that truancy issues need to be addressed.
…
The parents want an ordinance that is directed at chronic truants who have already been identified by Anderson’s office and local school officials. They do not want an ordinance that would allow city police and truancy officers to stop their home-school children during regular, public school hours.
Denlinger has said many parents who home-school their children do not follow the same hours of instruction as public schools. As a result, some home-school students might be running errands, such as shopping or walking pets during times when public school students are in class. The home-school parents are fearful their children would be harassed by authorities if the law reads like a daytime curfew.
The parents group is also against a requirement to register their home-schooled children with the regional superintendent’s office, Denlinger said. Likewise, the group is opposed to badges or IDs for their children that would identify them as home-schooled students.
posted by Valerie
Susan Ryan (usually at Corn and Oil) reports at Illinois Review on an article explaining that picking up all kids outside during the day is justified.
Daytime Freedom endangered in Lincoln
The cities and towns are doing their job for them. The schools have the names, addresses and phone numbers of truant students, but the city will have to check with them or homeschooling parents to make sure they’re picking up the right kids. Because either way, at the least, this infringement on freedom will require ALL the kids be stopped and questioned.
The verdict is guilty before being proven innocent.
Original article: Council stands by truancy ordinance — Home-school parents voice concerns, 28 November 2007, Lincoln Courier, Lincoln, Illinois
A group of parents who home-school their children found little support Tuesday for the changes they want in a truancy ordinance pending before the Lincoln City Council.
…
“You told me (previously) you had two minor things” to be changed, Neitzel told Brian Messner, one of about a dozen parents who attended a city council ordinance committee meeting. “You’ve redone the whole thing.”
Bates said the home-school faction’s suggested changes would “seriously dilute the intention of the ordinance” and also dilute the definition of a truant.
In their version of the ordinance, the parents removed the word “student” several times and replaced it with “truant.”
Bates said he is especially concerned with the home-school parents’ desire to change the definition of a truant. All students – including those who are home-schooled and those enrolled in public or private schools – “are all subject to compulsory attendance,” Bates said.
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