March 12, 2011
Judge Tom
1

$12,000 in truancy fines?

After three unexcused absences from school, Pennsylvania law allows parents and students to be fined. The court also has the option to order community service and a parenting education program. A parent who fails to comply may be sent to jail for up to five days.

The maximum fine is up to $300 – for each unexcused absence. This applies to parents and students age 13 and older. Parents who can show the court that they took every reasonable step to get their kids to school are not penalized. The law also authorizes the court to remove children from their home in extreme cases.

Photo by Gemb 1

In January, 2011, a lawsuit was filed in federal court against the Lebanon School District by four parents and the NAACP. The suit alleges the district imposed illegal and excessive fines including one student fined a total of $12,000 and a parent whose fines totaled $27,000. The plaintiffs claim that the school district didn’t try to work with parents to resolve problems – instead the schools acted punitively in assessing the fines rather than to deter truancy.

The school district stopped imposing fines during the past year but the suit alleges there are over $100,000 in unreturned illegal fines collected. This, obviously is an extreme case. However, many school districts are looking closely at measures to reduce truancy and dropout rates.

Judge Tom

The Author Judge Tom

Judge Tom is the founder and moderator of AsktheJudge.info. He is a retired juvenile judge and spent 23 years on the bench. He has written several books for lawyers and judges as well as teens and parents including 'Teen Cyberbullying Investigated' (Free Spirit Publishing) and 'Every Vote Matters: the Power of Your Voice, from Student Elections to the Supreme Court' (Free Spirit Publishing). In 2020, the American Bar Association published "Cyberbullying Law," the nation's first case-law book written for lawyers, judges and law students. When he's not answering teens' questions, Judge Tom volunteers with the American Red Cross and can be found hiking, traveling and reading.

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1 Comment

  • Oklahoma City Divorce Attorney Matt Ingham
    July 14, 2011 9:39 pm count( 0 )

    There is a solution to this problem, but obviously imposing $12,000.00 in fines is not that solution. Glad to hear that school officials in many districts have put on their thinking hats in order to assess the problem and hopefully, create a workable / practical solution.