Can A Tracking Device Curb Truancy?

A New Program In Dallas Makes Truant Students Carry A GPS Device

(CBS)  It's 7 a.m. and Joshua Cervantes is getting ready for school.

He makes his bed, grabs his ID - and his GPS tracking device, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan.

At school, Joshua clicks his GPS. It sends a signal to a satellite and tells his truancy counselor that Josh is on time.

"Every 10 minutes it gives me a point on that individual," said Tom Urrutia, program manager of the monitoring system.

Josh is part of a pilot program at Bryan Adams High School in Dallas to stop truancy. Last year, out of 185 school days, he had 160 unexcused absences.

"So your parents dropped you off, and then you left?" Sreenivasan asked.

"Yeah," Joshua said. "Anywhere, I'd just go to a friend's house."

But for six weeks, a court ordered him to carry a tracking device, and made sure he was home by a 9 p.m. curfew.

Joshua didn't miss a single day of school.

"When they're in truancy, they're goin' down, we're losing them the longer they're gone," said Dr. Kyle Ross, an alternative education coordinator. "All of a sudden they get this device and it puts a stop right there."

Administrators say the monitoring device is doing more than just tracking. It gives kids a way to overcome the peer pressure to skip school.

"It's making me do what I want to, because I want to do this," Joshua said.

"We're accountable whether they show up or not, we're accountable for the graduation rate, the attendance," said Bryan Adams High School Principal Cynthia Goodsell. "If they're not here, we can't teach them and we're accountable for the coursework."

When kids don't attend school, districts lose money. Dallas has the highest dropout rate in Texas, and this school district loses $10 million every year in attendance revenue alone.

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Blog: Hari Sreenivasan explains more about how the tracking system works.

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But dropouts cost society even more.

Three in 10 federal prisoners, four in 10 state prisoners and half of those in death row are dropouts.

"So I just decided I don't want that; I just wanted to change and get what I want," Joshua said.

What he wants is to graduate and work in the medical field, thanks to a small tracking device that got him back on track.

[collinsseraph]

%u201CNo child falls through the cracks. They are dropped through or shoved through by lazy, emotionally immature adults and unethical professionals%u201D
But you may ask what this statement has to do with the issue of truancy? Simple, truant children %u2013 who are routinely late or absent %u2013 come from dysfunctional homes. Those homes in my experience are lead by caregivers who are more concerned about their own pleasures and convenience than the welfare of their children. Some may say that this is an unkind assessment. My response to them is simple, visit these homes and you will see that this is not an aberration.
While some caregivers have a difficult time because of poverty, work schedules or transitioning to a single parent household; the majority simply refuse to exercise self control or basic order in their homes.
And this assessment is supported by various national studies. Research from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the U.S. Department of Education have found that child neglect and family disorganization are major factors in truancy. The OJJDP also found that %u201CTruancy has been clearly identified as one of the early warning signs of students headed for potential delinquent activity, social isolation, or educational failure via suspension, expulsion, or dropping out.%u201D
A well managed school is a safe school! www.SERAPH.net

[sierra1234-2009]

DID ANYONE EVER THINK THAT OUR SCHOOLS ARE BREEDING HOUSES FOR DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE?? MY SON COULD NO LONGER GO TO SCHOOL SAFELY FEELING THAT PEER PRESSURE TO DO DRUGS AND ALCOHOL WOULD EVENTUALLY "GET HIM". THINK HE DID THE RIGHT THING GETTING OUT AT 17 AND GETTING HIS GED AND MOVING ON WITH HIS LIFE

[telev1]

Truancy is reported by school officials in a timely matter at our district. A letter is sent to parent after 5 absences then again when a student misses 10. The letter is then sent to the county attorney to file charges for truancy. In most states this is a mandated reportable situation. We have filed letters early in the first semester only to have the first case heard in March. When the courts are involved parents can drop their student from school. When this happens the truant issue does not exist thus the truant charges are dropped. The laws in the state of Kansas allow parents to pick up a "free pass" when a student drops as the compulsory attendance law becomes obsolete. The parent is the one who should be wearing the bracelet pay a fine or face serve jail time since they are failing their son/daughter as a parent.

[michellem99-2009]

The satalite sends data to the gps device . They can track by computer that devive if computer is set to read that device and tell where he is.

[jsalsburg]

Your story has a problem. To quote the story "At school, Joshua clicks his GPS. It sends a signal to a satellite and tells his truancy counselor that Josh is on time." This can not be true. GPS does not send any signals, they are receivers. The device probably uses a Cell Network or a terrestrial Data Service to communical fron the handhels device to the target recipient of the Data. If the terrestrial Data Service then uses a satellite which I doubt, your story is accurate but I do not think this is what you meant.

[michellem99-2009]

Taken away..Ye know where they end up FOSTER HOMES,ye read right FOSTER HOMES.I know that life. If ye think they for the child think again.They don''t. The child is just a check for them. Children are warehoused,slaves to the Foster parents. They are acused. Foster parents tell lies of the child''s family. Change his/her name in the home. Bar child''s family. I became a foster child at 5/6 and it ended when I turnt 21. I could not talk to them about any thing. I lived in fear. Love it was not. I went to school all it was a break from the home. I did not cut class. I was safer at school even tho they would not teach me. My gendar and blindness is why. I wanted what denied me. It was sp ed. I was the only blind. the law said I had to be in class but that was it. I was handed my high school dilopma and they just wanted me be out. I have about a 3rd grade ed but never went to 3 grade. From 5 to 10 barred from school. It was the handicapped issue. I was hurt and pissed. Foster homes are not the answer.

[dobbershome]

If he doesn''t want to go to school so be it. Good luck making it out there in the real world without a High school diploma/GED.

[usmcvn2]

Nanny Govt. at it again!

This is stupid. PARENTS READ THIS: If you think your child needs to have a monitoring device to make sure they are going to school, then you are pathetic parents and should have your children taken away. This is a parenting issue and nothing else. It is our job to ensure our children get a good education and not the governments. This all falls in the same category as giving our kids drugs to calm them down so they can be "good kids" in school. Not sure of the spelling, but it is Ritalin. Parents that allow this are worthless parents and shouldn''t even have kids. Turn off the game consoles, computers and televisions and stop being lazy parents and take control of the lives that are supposed to be the most precious in your life right now. Quit depending on drugs, and government control in raising your children.

[lochlan-2009]

Wow, they will use any excuse to push tracking devices on people. It seems to me that it is about time we made an Amendment to the Constitution, that forbids MANDATORY tracking devices of any sort on citizens, if this country wants to keep from going down the path to an authoritarian state.

It''s not hard to see the path oligarchy worshipers are seeking. Get the kids use to being tracked at all times as children (especially the trouble makers), and when they are adults they wont know any other way.

[mollydtt]

We have lapsed into an era of "school is optional". Unfortunately, it means that the schools fail and the kids that want to be there have to find other schools. It is unfortunate that we have to abide with the decisions of kids that are too young to know that they need an education. Silly isn''t it that they get to call the shots. Someone has to be the adult and keep them in school until their reasoning skills are developed.

[brianbwb-2009]

"Johnny is not learning because Johnny does not want to and no one has convinced him of the need to" Posted by toldyouso12

Therein lies the truth, why subject Johnny to an indoctrination exercise that is totally useless in the world Johnny has to survive? Most of what America calls "education" is simply the promotion of false dogma, which has nothing to do with real life.

For example, music has basically been cut from schools, yet it is a multi-billion dollar worldwide business, instead, Johnny is forced to hear garbage like Columbus "discovering" America.

Fix education, make it relevant, and then Johnny will go voluntarily and learn.

[toldyouso12]

And at what point will courts order parents to submit to a device injected under the skin in the forehead or left hand? Is there a Bible in the house?

Posted by dovestar at 05:01 AM : Jun 11, 2008


Get your own bible and refresh yourself--if you are referring to the mark of the beast--it is in the forehead or the RIGHT hand not the left.

[toldyouso12]

In our house, since they were little, my kids have been subjected to mind "games" and challenged to think.

I would take them to grocery stores as 4 and 5 year olds, point out the various names of fruits and veggies, then send them on a scavenger hunt to find ones on a list--we would buy various items and try them out. This led to them liking fruits and veggies, improved their memories and they thought the games were fun. The same with videos--no cable in our home for years. We rented or bought videos and after a movie, they''d be quizzed on obscure stuff like what green item was on the desk when Neo woke up after the white rabbit party in the matrix?

On road trips, we did not look for license plates--we quoted famous lines from movies and the kids had to guess which movie it was--they still like to play these games--they all teach awareness, and mental acuity.

I sometimes spent an hour or two only conversing by spelling in rapid fire---I take the kids to museums, art shows, to antique malls and discuss the items in detail--they pay attention because they know they will be quizzed later and they loved working toward my grand prizes. (yes, they got points for winning and they worked for a prize each year)

[toldyouso12]

This is stupid. American HS grads are performing and reading at a 6th grade level on average. The average American newspaper is written at a 4th grade level and more and more, contains spelling errors and slang. Most adults in the corporate arena can not spell or compose a decent business or techinical writing missive. Most people under the age of 30 cannot perform simple equations (like making change from a 20.00 bill) without a calculator.

The point is this: What difference does it make if a person is in school physically but cannot or refuses to learn and one who is not in school? The net result is the same. The idea of chipping people in some way to track them keeps popping up--but they don''t attack the root issues. "Johnny is not learning because Johnny does not want to and no one has convinced him of the need to" Either not enough nurturing or the wrong kind (like spoiling them to death) Since Johnny does not feel like learning, it matters not whether he is in school physically or not--because emotionally and mentally--he already is elsewhere. Take away the video games and tv--save both for vacations, be there or have your kids monitored when they do homework--make it at the same time, in the same location and as immediately following school as possible--form a reading group with your kids--can the soccer, volleyball and football and start working out those minds.

[kat1park]

This is borderline. I think it could work though, if it is done for kids who are not just truant but also committing crimes such as vandalism or stealing. Then you can justify it. But I don''t know if you can justify it just because someone is skipping school. I guess the key is to have the parent''s permission when they feel as though they have tried everything else to keep their kids out of trouble and nothing else has worked. At least if you force them to go to school you know where they are. I guess the key to the success of this program is that desperate parents seek out the assistance for their children as opposed to the school system forcing it on parents. In the old days, teachers called parents and said your child wasn''t in my class today. Not too many teachers take the time to give that kind of personal attention anymore. So without the tracking device, parents will have no idea that a child is skipping school. If you want your child to have a chance to succeed, you may have to do something drastic to save them. I agree that this is a slippery slope, but it may actually keep a child out of trouble and perhaps even save a child''s life. To the extent that it achieves that goal, it might be worth exploring.

[dovestar]

This is a slippery slope. Government tracks our kids electronically. At what point do they just chuck the parents and take over? Who determines who is tracked and why? And at what point will courts order parents to submit to a device injected under the skin in the forehead or left hand? Is there a Bible in the house?

[incog-nito]

The Bush administration is reportedly working on a plan to surgically implant one of these devices in every newborn in the U.S. To fight terrorism, of course.

[soshljustic]

So we''ll have kids on electronic leashes whom have attempted to mirror greater adult society that has dropped out of adult committments ie. jobs, relationships,dysfunctioning families,dysfunctioning peer groups. When does society start dispensing these leashes for adult society,so that it may clean up its act and a portray the appropriate mentored behaviors which have worked predominently in history? Those and a quest for the ability to afford and the desire for an education were once old time american values,and have now become consumer goods in a throw away and planned obsolescence society. Perhaps we need to return to child labor issues and start training programs in teenage years when children want money and goods, have them work full time before attending college which might inspire renewed appreciation for education. As an adult learner, many adult learners enjoy school and excel, after the school of hard knocks, for those kids that hear another calling. I''m not advocating a 1 size fits all, but rather a individualized approach for each depending upon focus, maturity,worldview,life chances, ability...

[mollydtt]

In Texas, if the truancy figures are too high, the high school closes and the students are sent to other high schools. A high school in Austin just found out last week that it was deemed "unacceptable" and will close. The funny part is that the unexcused absences and failure to graduate a higher percentage of students is what caused the school to close, more than the standardized test scores. As a parent, I''d make my kid go to school (the punishment I''d give would be worse than any punishment a school official could think up), but it is obvious that the parents need a little help trying to find out where their kids are before it is too late. I personally think this is a good idea. I hope it helps some kids get a life and keep them from dragging everyone else down with them.
Everyone loses when kids skip school, even the ones that want to be there.