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Hamilton County: More than 100 local students already truant

By: Kelli Gauthier
(Contact)

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Jeffrey Wilson

Only two weeks into the school year, more than 100 students in Hamilton County already are truant.

As of Monday, the 10th day of enrollment, 113 students in the school system had accumulated six or more unexcused absences, according to a report Superintendent Jim Scales shared Friday with the school board.

“Even if a student has perfect attendance, they’re only in school 15 percent of the time, and the other 85 percent of the time, they’re doing something else anyway,” Dr. Scales said. “We must protect that 15 percent of time.”

High school students racked up the most truancies with 78, followed by 24 in elementary schools and 11 in middle school. Red Bank High School had the most truants with 26, followed by Ooltewah and Central high schools with 11 each.

Red Bank Principal Gail Chuy said none of the excused absences had been recorded yet at her school, so the number of “truants” includes students with medical conditions and several who have moved out of state.

“You have to let the dust settle before you start collecting all that,” she said.

On Tuesday, during a school board Discipline Committee meeting in which school officials talked about truancy with local judges, Deputy Superintendent Rick Smith tried to prepare board members for the report.

“It’s going to be a scary number,” he said. “It will make you nervous.”

Hamilton County Schools receives money from the state Department of Education based on how many students are enrolled on the 10th day of school.

Hamilton County Board of Education member Jeffrey Wilson called the truancy numbers “ridiculous,” especially at the elementary school level, where parents are responsible for getting their children to school.

“It’s inexcusable and it’s something we have to do better with as a society,” he said. “If kids are already truant, there’s no telling how many days they’ll miss the whole year.”

In some cases, students show up on registration day and then go on vacation with their family for a week, returning as truants, Mr. Smith said. Some parents complain that the school year, which started on Aug. 12, begins too soon.

Mr. Wilson said some parents remember when they started school after Labor Day and “still embrace that mindset.”

“Times are changing,” Mr. Wilson said. “The starting date of school is published way in advance. You have all summer to get things together and get the kids ready for school.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, local judges said it was time to address parents’ role in allowing truancy and offered to help the school system prosecute the parents of habitual offenders with a Class C misdemeanor charge and potential 30-day jail sentence for not getting their children to school.

Dr. Scales also acknowledged that parents must take their children’s education seriously and be held accountable when they do not.

“Parents have to realize they have a real responsibility in ensuring that their children attend school daily — not occasionally, daily,” he said. “They’ve got to step up and make sure our students get to school daily with a good attitude.”

According to 10th day enrollment numbers, Hamilton County schools have 148 more students than this time last year. But the growth is entirely in elementary schools, which gained 380 students. High schools and middle schools lost 113 and 119 students, respectively.

Schools that lost the most students were Hixson High, which has 217 fewer students this year, and Red Bank, which lost 133. Hixson went from 979 students this time last year to 762, and Red Bank dropped from 1,116 to 983.

Hamilton County Schools spokeswoman Danielle Clark said Hixson principal Christine Couch and other district administrators are enforcing a policy this year that allows them to refuse admission to students attending the school on a hardship transfer if they have been a discipline problem in the past. Hixson’s zone also was moved slightly north last year with the anticipated opening of Signal Mountain Middle-High School, so some students chose to attend Red Bank High School, Ms. Clark said.

Sequoyah High School added 60 students this year, some from Hixson, Ms. Clark said, bringing its student population to 369. Last year, Sequoyah, which has no zone, had no athletic program, but this year students can play sports for Hixson.

Normal Park Museum Magnet Upper School lost 122 students, down from 250 to 128, which Ms. Clark said was expected after the closing of Chattanooga Middle Museum Magnet. Most Chattanooga Middle students given a chance to apply to Normal Park Upper did not, officials said. In addition, Normal Park’s zone was shrunk and some middle-school students are now zoned for such schools as Red Bank, Howard and others.

There is “no question” that Normal Park will continue to grow in the coming years, she said.

As a result of the new middle-high school on Signal Mountain, more parents enrolled their children at Nolan Elementary on the mountain, which saw its population rise from 584 to 622, an increase of 38.

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