Editor’s note: This is the second part of a two-part series on truancy.

BROOKINGS – In the early 2000s, South Dakota had the second highest number of kids in detention centers (per capita) in the United States. Most of those kids were placed in detention centers for non-violent crimes, such as drug use and truancy. Legislators in the state saw this troubling statistic and began reforming the juvenile justice system.

Known as the Juvenile Justice Reform Act, 2015’s Senate Bill 73 took juvenile detention centers (JDC) off the table for non-violent offenders. Instead, those kids would reform through diversion programs, remaining in their schools and communities rather than being shipped off to a distant detention facility.

In 2009, South Dakota legislators also raised the compulsory school attendance age from 16 to 18, with Senate Bill 126. Critics of the bill said that schools were not equipped to take on students who had no interest being there, explaining that resources for the school would be needed. Despite a push in 2019 to lower the age back to 16, the compulsory age of attendance remained at 18.

Fast-forward to 2021, in the midst of a pandemic, and school administrators, principals and teachers are faced with their “most challenging year ever.” Truancy, coupled with defiant, non-compliant behavior, is on the rise in districts across the state, including Brookings. Administrators are faced with a question: What do we do to reverse the trend?

Current situation

The effects of both Senate Bill 73 and Senate Bill 126, both good and bad, are being seen in school districts across the state. Some students at Brookings High School are entering the building but refusing to go to class, instead spending their time in the hallways or parking lot. These students, despite being on school grounds, are still considered truant. 

Brookings High School Resource Officer Josh Schneider, with the Brookings Police Department, says “there are several groups” that walk around the hallways during the day until they are found and told to go back to class. Other times, they will get excused for a bathroom break and then “just not go back to class,” Schneider said, explaining that a “select few” have the non-compliant type attitude. The grade levels for these students range anywhere from freshman to seniors. 

Why do these students, who wander the hallways instead of going to class, bother coming to school, if they are still considered truant? 

“That’s a good question,” Schneider said. “I don’t know if it’s more their social time, because all their friends are here, so they just use it to socialize. It sounds crazy because they are in school, so they should be in class.”

Schneider thinks, from the experiences that he has with his own kids, the 90-minute class periods make it hard for kids to sit still for that long. 

“They just ask to go to the bathroom, and they’ll be out for 20 minutes walking around, and the teacher’s got 30 other kids in the classroom. They can’t focus on the one that went to the bathroom,” Schneider said. “I think that’s a big component of it.”

According to the BHS Student Handbook, students are allowed 10 unexcused absences per semester. After seven unexcused absences in one or more classes per semester, school personnel will send a letter to the parent or guardian. After 10 unexcused absences in one or more classes per semester, students are considered “excessively absent and a letter will be sent to parent/guardian.”

Attendance program

The Brookings School Attendance Program, a diversion program of the Boys & Girls Club, was started in conjunction with the school district so that there would be direct referrals for truancy, taking out the State’s Attorney’s Office, according to Youth Diversion Director Karlee Chapin.

“It’s really trying to prevent them from getting that far and getting referrals to (the State’s Attorney’s Office),” Chapin said. “Ultimately, my goal with that program is that we catch them soon enough and are able to put in some place the resources they need in order to get them to go to school before it becomes a habit.”

The Brookings School Attendance Program works on a three-tier system. The first tier occurs when a student is referred to the program with “excessive absences.” Excessive absences are considered after 20 total unexcused hours or five unexcused hours for one course or 40 hours of excused absences not including those due to COVID-19. The family will receive a letter, and the student will have a meeting with a parent/guardian, school administration, and Boys & Girls Club personnel. As of late Oct., 14 students have been referred to this program. In 2020, there were eight referred. 

Tier 2 occurs when “excessive absences persist” and will then require a weekly check-in. Another meeting will occur, this time with a school resource officer, along with the other previously mentioned parties. Tier 2 occurs when there has been 40 total unexcused hours or 10 unexcused hours for one course or 80 hours of excused absences not including those due to COVID-19.

Tier 3 goes into effect when tier 1 and tier 2 “interventions are not being followed.” The student is then referred to the Teen Court for truancy.

Teen Court “gives first-time, non-violent offenders the opportunity to admit wrongdoing.” High school-aged juveniles charged with offenses such as underage consumption, truancy, shoplifting and injury to property, among other misdemeanor charges, are “sentenced” by a jury of their peers. All Teen Court youth complete a mental health screening, which takes place during their intake. Youth can only participate in Teen Court if they have admitted guilt and it’s their first offense. 

As of late October, there have been 20 referred to the Teen Court program. In 2020, there were 41 referred. According to Chapin, some of the “sentences” include community service hours or community action points (CAP), which include activities related to academics, character and citizenship and healthy lifestyles.

Brookings County State’s Attorney Dan Nelson said that the Teen Court programming for truancy is different than for some other citations, like underage drinking.

For the truancy programming in Teen Court, those in the program are required to spend a set amount of time at the Boys & Girls Club working on homework. The Boys & Girls Club will also sometimes have people present to help with homework. When that happens, those in the program must be present. 

“With the truancy kids, too, I sometimes try to show up at school randomly to check in with them,” Chapin said. “That’s an added supervision to them to make sure they are in school.”

According to Nelson, if offenders are unsuccessful in the Teen Court program, they are referred back to the court system, where they have to explain to the judge why they were unsuccessful in Teen Court and then proceed in the court “as if they hadn’t been referred to the diversion program.” 

Nelson said “not many” are unsuccessful in the program. For truant offenders entering the court system on a first offense, the fine is $100. The second offense is another $100 fine with the third offense being a probation sentence. 

BHS answers

Brookings School District Superintendent Klint Willert explained that the district has lost “some of the tools in our toolbox that we had years ago.”

“Prior (to the juvenile justice reform), when you had very significant issues with truancy, pretty significant issues with some of these behaviors, there may have been alternative placements for some of the individuals who wouldn’t adhere to the expectations in the school,” Willert said. 

The compulsory attendance age of 18, coupled with the “What are you going to do about it? You can’t make me” attitude, shifted a burden onto school districts without the corresponding resources to support the schools, Willert said. 

“There were all these resources that existed prior to the changes in juvenile justice, that were in that system, that subset of students that found themselves in that environment were shifted back to the school district,” Willert said, explaining that school did not receive any funding or resources to hire a new employee, a single program, or designated effort “to address that shift.”

Willert said there were never any resources or necessary support given to local school districts when the change in juvenile justice occurred. Instead, Willert said, the Brookings School District became very active in seeking a partnership with Brookings Behavioral Health and Wellness.

“We established that partnership. That was an intentional effort to say, ‘We need school-based mental health services with a community partner,’” Willert said. “To help coordinate what we are trying to do. But that’s only a small sliver of a bigger solution.”

In response to the increase in truancy referrals, the Brookings School District is in the process of starting an “alternative option” for students “who may not be finding success” at the high school. The alternative option, discussed at the Nov. 8 school board meeting, would be a “supported, online environment” that will be funded through federal ESSER (COVID-19 relief) dollars. 

Before the start of the pandemic in early 2020, an alternative school was discussed by administrators at the high school, with the proposed location being the Career & Technical Education Center Building on the south side of the south parking lot at the high school. Due to the pandemic, the idea was tabled.

Two certified teachers will be hired to lead the alternative option. The location for this alternative option is still to be decided but the tentative plan is to start the alternative option in January, at the start of the new semester.

The district also hired two mental health counselors, utilizing the COVID dollars, which has “really been a true benefit,” Willert said. 

Further, the district is hiring what Willert calls “success coordinators.” 

“The goal is, with those success coordinators identified for the high school, they would provide an online platform that is supported with them directly,” Willert said. “To assist those students who might be struggling academically or who might be disengaged and wandering the halls, where it’s better for you to be engaged in this environment than nothing at all.”

The district is currently advertising for student success interventionists on the district’s employment page. To be eligible, the person applying must be a certified teacher. The position will be funded through the ESSER dollars.

“I applaud what the high school is doing with the success coordinators and working on an alternative option,” Willert said. “It can be online so if you don’t want to be here, that’s fine, you can leave, but you are still going to be held academically accountable for these courses that you are going to take online. Parents, you know what you are signing up for when your child is in these. You own it as much as they do. If they aren’t showing up, if they aren’t participating, we are going to follow up with the State’s Attorney, we are going to be involved with truancy and diversion programs and exercise those options that we have.”

To learn more about the Juvenile Justice Reform in South Dakota, visit jjri.sd.gov.

Contact Addison DeHaven at adehaven@brookingsregister.com.