THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 28, 1995 TAG: 9504260159
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JANE HARPER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Some students think skipping classes is a ``cool'' thing to do. But having one of their parents follow them around at school for a day definitely is not.
Realizing that, officials at Western Branch High School have combined those two elements into a plan that they believe has helped dramatically reduce the number of students skipping school.
Beginning earlier this month, parents of students caught cutting classes have been called by school officials and offered two options: They must either attend school for a day with their child or have their child suspended for three days.
Chesapeake police also have been patrolling areas near the school more closely and rounding up any students they find. The students are then returned to school.
``It's just something we're trying to do to get them in school and keep them here so they can get their education,'' said Edward Welsh, assistant principal for attendance at Western Branch.
School officials decided to implement the new policy because the number of unexcused absences has risen in recent weeks as spring has arrived, Welsh said.
Also, residents of some nearby communities had complained in the last couple of months that there had been an increase in daytime burglaries in the area and that they believed high school students who had been wandering the neighborhoods may have been involved, Welsh said.
Students were told of the new policy a few weeks ago and many apparently have decided that cutting classes is not worth the risk of having their parents spend a day on campus with them, Welsh said.
In the first week that the new policy was implemented, the number of students caught skipping dropped by about 70 percent, he said.
``They're just not doing it anymore because the last thing they want to do is have their parents come to school with them,'' Welsh said.
About 10 parents have been offered the option of spending a day at school with their child and five have agreed to do it, he said. The other parents liked the idea, but were unable to miss a day of work to do it, he said.
The parents went to each class with their child and even went to lunch with them. It was an enlightening experience for both parent and child, Welsh said.
``I guarantee those kids won't skip school again,'' he said.
Chesapeake Police Detective Dwayne Edmonds, who is assigned full-time to Western Branch High School, said police are getting fewer complaints about break-ins in the area and students wandering the streets near the school since the policy was implemented and the patrols were stepped up. But Edmonds did not have any exact figures on the decline.
``We were getting calls from people seeing kids in the area so we started going out and getting them,'' Edmonds said. ``Believe me, it was pretty busy for a while.''
Police also have been issuing court summonses to students under 18 whom they catch smoking, Edmonds said. It's against state law for persons under 18 to possess or buy cigarettes. Students who receive the summonses must appear before a juvenile court judge.
KEYWORDS: TRUANCY SKIPPING SCHOOL by CNB