How Do I Report Truancy?

According to the Colorado Department of Education's "Questions and Answers Regarding Colorado's School Truancy Rates," the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act that is part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires state education agencies to set up a uniform reporting system for information such as truancy rates. Each state has compulsory attendance laws that guide when a student is considered chronically truant and what steps should be taken to correct the problem. If a student is absent without an excuse by the parent/guardian or if the student leaves school or a class without permission of the teacher or administrator in charge, the student is considered absent without excuse and therefore, truant. It takes an entire community to watch for things out of the ordinary, such as a school-age child not in school during school hours. Every person has a duty to report truant children. It is in their best interest to remain in school and graduate.

Things You'll Need

• Telephone directory

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Open a telephone directory to the front pages. Search for the heading "Government-County." Under this heading, search for "Department of Family and Children Services" or similar agency. You can report a truant child to this department or to the office listed next, which is the "Child Abuse and Neglect" office.

   • 2

     Call the juvenile court of the county in which you live and ask to speak to a truancy officer. Not all counties have truancy officers. In some cases, the president of the school board acts as a truant officer. The members of the school board are listed in the telephone directory under "City Government" or "County Government," depending on where the school is located.

   • 3

     In Catawba County (N.C.) Schools, you can call a Tolerate No Truancy (TNT) hot-line. This hot-line was created by law enforcement officials and the county schools. Other counties in various states have created the same or similar type of hot-line for reporting a truant child. These phone numbers are almost always located in the first few pages of a telephone directory under "City or County Government: Schools."