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Parents focus of roundup
KEITH PHUCAS,
Times Herald Staff
Thursday, September 18th 2008
EAST NORRITON – Police hauled at least 18 parents of students enrolled in Norristown Area School District into district court Wednesday for truancy violations.
The parents cited had ignored at least five hand-delivered letters from schools, the school district and the court about their children’s chronic truancy, according to authorities.
Some children had as many as 15 unexcused absences from school.
“Yet (parents) continued to ignore these letters,” said Meaghan Kerper, a Norristown truant officer.
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The parents were picked up at their homes and handcuffed by Norristown police officers and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department deputies and brought to district court in East Norriton.
“That’s a good way to get the word out (to others parents),” said District Judge Ester J. Casillo.
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
A total of 48 arrest warrants were issued. Police will continue to look for the other 30 parents.
Chronic school absence is unlawful and increases the likelihood students will drop out of school, turn to illegal drugs or other criminal activity, according to the Norristown Police Department.
For Norristown police Lt. Kevin McKeon, reducing truancy should pay a larger social dividend in the future.
“The whole goal of this effort is revitalizing Norristown,” he said. “We have to educate our youth.”
Improving social conditions is intrinsic to the police department’s mission to prevent crime, he said.
“And our crime is down 11 percent,” the lieutenant said. “(The truancy program) is not the sole reason, but one of the reasons.”
Thanks to Weed and Seed grants since 2005, the Norristown’s truancy program has made significant strides curbing truancy in the school district, but officials constantly struggle to keep families from falling through the cracks.
William Penn Foundation and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency through Norristown Weed and Seed also provide funding for the truancy effort.
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