New attendance policies send Putnam County into outrage

Willow Cornwell, Staff Writer

On Aug. 2 new juvenile court Judge Steven Randolph released a video statement addressing Putnam County. The video briefly explains the new promising policies that have been put in place for truancy. These new policies were put in place to try and fill in the gaps in our controversial system.

In this video, Randolph explained with no context some of the major changes made to the PCSS truancy policy. The most notable changes include requiring students to spend seven hours doing community service for every absence, potential jail time for parents of chronically absent students, and potential loss of custody for those parents.

At the time of the release, people believed this was quite drastic and some have even said it may be illegal for them to implement these policies. These claims are just that, claims. Some students skip school just to skip school, but other students are absent to work to support their families.

Alternatively, sometimes kids are sick but they are unable to go to the doctor, or it may just be just one of those days where you need a mental health break.

But, as CHS chemistry teacher Kimberly Pack said, “For some kids, the safest place is here”.

For a few students the home environment is unsafe and school allows them to come to an environment where they are at least guaranteed some level of safety.

This new policy is a step in a good direction to help students to be more successful with school, a career, and life in general.

Since Covid, so many things have changed, including the way people view school. For some, school has become an option, something that is hard or inconvenient, which can make them just skip it all together.

Pack said, “Teachers can't teach if the students aren't there. We can't even teach if students aren't willing to try.”

I truly believe that with these new changes our current problematic system is headed in a new and hopeful direction.