The ACLU of Rhode Island appreciated this bill’s concept of trying to dig deeper into school districts and schools that have chronic attendance problems, and to provide supportive services to families where excessive absenteeism appears to be an issue. We believe that a family-oriented supportive approach to this problem is critical and much more effective than punitive measures, such as the use of “truancy courts,” which have often been more punishing than remedial and created more problems than they have solved in dealing with students who are chronically absent. We encouraged amendments to certain parts of the bill, and mid-session an amendment was made to no longer require mandatory referral of excessively absent students to truancy officers, a provision we were urging to be removed. The bill passed the House but died in the Senate.
Sponsors
Representative McNamara
