TWO MOTHERS WERE ARRESTED ON THE SAME DAY
Five women recently were arrested within a span of four weeks on charges relating to Georgia’s Compulsory School Attendance Law, which deals with attendance and unexcused absences.
Two of the arrests actually happened on the same day, and each woman was issued a $500 property bond. Both were in their 20s.
More than 10 unexcused absences is the trigger in most school districts, although that number can climb higher before an arrest warrant is issued. In one of the recent arrests, according to Superintendent Kristina Brooks, a child had 38 unexcused absences from school.
“We start notifying parents after the third unexcused absences. It’s a very involved process. There are letters, face-to-face meetings, social workers get involved,” Brooks said. “(An arrest warrant) is the last option.”
The Baldwin County School District employs its own truancy coordinator, Willie Mae Wright, who is the primary point person for children with absentee issues. When those issues rise to a certain level, Wright and the school district will turn their case file over to the District Attorney, and the warrant process begins.
Chief Deputy Scott Deason with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office said that most of the offenders “turn themselves in.” Deason added that the school district does all the leg work.
“It’s not like the Sheriff’s Office is checking school rosters and seeing who’s going to school and who isn’t going to school,” he said.