by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
State Attorney Harry Shorstein is convinced the best way to keep criminals out of his office is to keep kids in school.
“It has always been a top priority of mine,” said Shorstein.
Wednesday, Shorstein announced the creation of a new truancy program — Jacksonville United Against Truancy — highlighted by five TV spots that will air through Thanksgiving. The five spots focus on a single mother, a single father, a message from Shorstein and two featuring students at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts — one in which the kids talk about why classmates skip school and one about reasons to attend school.
According to Shorstein and the Duval County School System, truancy is a major problem in Jacksonville as well as all over the nation. Donna Cobb, the coordinator of attendance and related services for the school system, said last year 8.6 percent of elementary students were truant, 9.7 percent of middle school students were truant and 13.7 percent of high school kids were absent on a regular basis.
“It’s mainly students skipping without their parent’s knowledge,” said Cobb, explaining that each level of student truancy has a basis. The parents are usually the reason elementary kids are truant, the middle school students have a low attachment to school and the high school truancy rate is directly related to parental involvement in academics and athletics.
Too often dropping out of school becomes the option of choice. However, Cobb said dropouts are much more likely to eventually need financial assistance, they’ll earn less and most employers today require at least a high school diploma.
“We are working with the kids. We are hoping to encourage and inspire them,” said Cobb. “It’s all about academic success.”
A student is considered truant if they miss 21 unexcused days in a school year. Shorstein said he and his office will continue to pursue both the truant students and the parents. Shorstein said he has and will continue to arrest the children and the parents if there isn’t a valid reason for the absence. More than anything, he’s after the habitual truants, the kids who are missing dozens of days a year without parental knowledge.
One of the spots features Katheryn George, a single mother whose four kids were late or absent from school dozens of times. On Aug. 19, 2004, George entered Shorstein’s Truancy Arbitration Program — an initiative designed to get the parent, the police and someone from Shorstein’s office at the table in an effort to determine the reason for the truancy problem and find a solution. The program worked and Shorstein commended George for participating then and now.
“It takes a lot of courage to admit you made a mistake,” said Shorstein.
The spots were produced by PRC Digital at a cost of $25,000. Shorstein’s office bought another $45,000 worth of local air time and he’s hoping several of the stations, including cable provider Comcast, will offer to carry the spots as public service announcements at no cost.
“Comcast is doubling our spots,” said Bill Hodges, of the SAO. “We are also paying to get the time.”
The funding for the production and air time came in the form of a grant from the national Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
“After all the efforts, truancy continues to remain a very, very serious problem,” said Shorstein, who first tackled the issue a decade ago. “The statistics are improving in Jacksonville, but it’s a big problem nationwide. We will continue to address it, but we will probably never totally solve it.”