New Program Nets Record Haul of Truants
- Share via
Record numbers of Oxnard students who ditched class during the last school year got caught, thanks to a new truancy program being touted as a model for cities in Ventura County.
Developed by Oxnard Police Officer Dave Walker, the federally funded Student Truancy Offender Program--or STOP--involves law enforcement, school officials, social service workers and parents.
Implemented last August, the program issued 2,747 truancy citations in the 2000-01 school year, up from just 434 in 1999-00.
Buoyed by a revision in state law allowing truant arrests to be made inside homes, officers began knocking on doors.
About 93% of students who were ditching classes were found at home, usually watching television. Officers even broke up a handful of parties, at least one of them with more than 100 kids, police said.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
