About SSA: SSA In The News

The Cost of Cruelty

May 18, 2007
by Lia Martin

Solutions and a willingness to work together underlined the people and agencies, who gathered to meet in an effort to build an organization which will improve truancy and bullying issues in schools, as well as make a better community a major focus.

They decided on Wednesday to call themselves the "Youth Task Force." "We realized that there was a truancy issue in the schools," Joanna Pena said to the 26-plus people gathered in the Coyote Del Malpais golf course clubhouse.

"We realized it was not only a school problem. It was also a community problem."

School Superintendent Kilino Marquez thought that instead of looking at the problems, everyone should look at it as opportunities to reach out and improve the situation.

Marquez said that the schools used to be funded on statistics gathered on the 40th day of school. Now they average it out, he said, between the 40th, 80th and 120th day of school. "The district is funded by attendance," Marquez explained. "It (truancy) is taking away the money from the schools."

Marquez stressed that the best way to fight truancy was to have the parents, teachers, and school administrators take a real and personal interest in the child and find out why they were not in school.

"As educators we have to ask the hard questions," Marquez says. "We have to convince the site administrators and the teachers to ask the students why they are not coming to school."

Deputy District Attorney Randy Collins stressed that the 13th District was not just about law enforcement, it was about prevention.

"If the DA's office is the stick," Collins said. "It is important to have the carrot as well."

An interesting observation to make as he said that their office was going to start sending out letters, which he hoped would motivate parents to get their child back in school.

Pena showed a film about the Safe Schools Student Ambassadors program, which made the students the "eyes and the ears" at schools.

If you consider that 75 percent of students report bullying at school, and 150,000 students stay home every day because they are afraid to come to school because of the bullying, you not only have a truancy issue you have a safety issue.

Another frightening statistic cited - bully is the third leading cause of suicide amongst teens.

The meeting is a start toward finding solutions.

"I work for the family education bureau, though I am a jailer by trade," said Ron Lucero, the state truancy prevention coordinator. "Consider that the task force take over more than truancy - also take on family safety. Take on an approach to address community needs as a whole."