St. Landry Parish students head back to school on Wednesday, but not all the parents and students are aiming for the perfect attendance awards.
Eunice Police Sgt. Stephanie Myers, who serves as the juvenile officer, is the law enforcement end of an attendance enforcement program that started with the 2015-2016 school year in Eunice.
City Judge Terry Hoychick spearheads the legal effort.
Hoychick, who took office in January 2015, said he did not hear truancy cases until May or June.
“Then all of a sudden we start getting all these truancy cases and I’m like, ‘Isn’t the horse kind of like already out of the barn.’”
Hoychick said Paul Brown, assistant district attorney, told him his office didn’t get truancy cases until the end of the year.
Myers was brought on board as juvenile officer by Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot.
Hoychick remembers telling Myers, “Look, we’ve got to do something about these truancies. We’ve got to be proactive rather than waiting until the end of the year.”
Meetings were held with principals. Follow-up meetings were held with parents.
The idea was to focus on the students before the end of the school year, he said.
“She’s been tremendous,” Hoychick said of Myers, who has been a liaison between the court, schools and principals.
“We want to know when we have problems with parents,” he said.
Myers said truancy occurs when a student has five unexcused absences. Parents are charged for students up to eighth grade. From ninth to 12th grade, the students are charged, she said.
Parents must present proof, such as a doctor’s excuse, for an absence to be excused.
Principals are required to send the information to the School Board office, which then reports truancy cases to the district attorney.
The principals are ready to supply the information to Myers, Brown and Hoychick on a timely basis, she said.
“I can go through all of my schools and walk away easily with 30 reports of truancy a week, Myers said.
The principals are ready for this school year and meetings are already set up with some families, she said.
“He is going to be hearing a lot more because the way we have it situated now it is going to be that the parents are going to be in court a lot quicker,” she said.
Parents brought to court for a truancy issue are usually sent to a parenting class, Hoychick said.
But if the truancies continue, parents may face jail time and the children can be removed from the home, he said.
