Truancy Patrol

When parents send their children out the door each morning for another day at school, the expectation is they'll be there for the entire day, learning new skills and expanding their horizons. In most cases that's true, but not always.

April Douglas went on truancy patrol with a local school resource officer to see where the hot spots are for kids playing hooky and what happens when they're caught.

The lunch period seems to be the peak time when kids get the itch to ditch and officers know exactly where to look to catch them in the act.

Dep. Paul Emmons, school resource officer, said, “All schools same percentage of skipping I don't think one school is any worse than any other school.”

Lisa Sherry, juvenile service coordinator, Truancy Center, said, "Multiple reasons children overwhelmed with family issues, or drug problems needs to be addressed."

Once kids get to the Truancy Center, the school records are pulled and they're screened through the juvenile justice system to see if this is a chronic problem. Then, with the parents’ permission, the child is monitored for the next 60 days by a Truancy Center counselor.

Gov. Scott Vetoes Nearly $400 Million from Budget

Weather for Tallahassee, Florida

77° F

Clear

Wed

93 66

Thu

88 72

Fri

86 67

Sat

82 63

See detailed forecast

Commenting Policy

Comments are posted from viewers like you and do not always reflect the views of this station.

For more on WCTV’s policy regarding viewer comments or to report an offensive comment, click here.

Today's Events

Tuesday May 21

Click Here to Submit and View Events

Tweets by @WCTV