DES MOINES, Iowa- Over two dozen families in Central Iowa are now facing prosecution under a new law that standardizes attendance requirements across the state.

The new truancy law was signed in May and went into effect in July. Senate File 2435 outlines guidelines for districts to follow to lower the rate of chronic absenteeism. Under the law, a student is considered chronically absent when they miss 10% of the days in a grading period. At that point, a letter is sent to the student’s parent or guardian and the County Attorney.

If a student misses 15% of a grading period, a student engagement meeting is held where a school official must investigate the cause of the excessive absences. The school official will meet with the student and their parent/guardian to develop a plan moving forward.

If a student misses 20% of a grading period, then the family may be prosecuted in truancy court. Truancy is and offense that occurs when a student has unexcused absences. Parents are responsible for a child’s regular attendance at school. Excessive absences can lead to a criminal charge being filed against each parent.

In previous years the process was different. According to the Lynn Hicks, the Chief of Staff for the Polk County Attorney’s Office, when a child missed 10 days from school last year, the school made a referral to their office. The parent was invited to meet with school officials and a mediator to create an agreement for attendance. Then, a charge was filed if the mediation agreement is violated or if the parent failed to attend the meeting.

However, this year, schools must hold the student engagement meeting (which replace the mediations held by the County Attorney’s Office) before referring the case to the County Attorney.

“It’s too early to tell how that’s working,” Hicks said when asked about the replacing the mediations held by the County Attorney’s Office with student engagement meetings between the school, parent, and student. “I know that previously the meeting with out mediation was pretty successful in solving some of the problems before charges were ever needed,” he continued.

In Polk County, 15 parents making up 13 families are now facing charges, according to the Polk County Attorney’s Office. These are the charges by school district:

• West Des Moines- 7
• Ankeny- 6
• Des Moines- 1
• South East Polk- 1

According to Hicks, “Des Moines Public Schools is on a semester system which affects when they reach the threshold for days missed. Schools on a quarter of trimester system would have reached that day earlier in the school year.”

Des Moines Public Schools announced on Wednesday that fifty-one schools reported a decline in absenteeism. Superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts previously told WHO 13 News that he goes door knocking to talk with families in his district.

“I simply want to ask them ‘what is the barrier that is preventing your child from attending school regularly?’ And once that information is shared with me, I bring it back to the team and we find a way to help parents. And that’s what we intend to do over the next several years,” said Roberts.

During the last school year, seven families pled guilty in Polk County Truancy Court. Of these families, five paid a $50 fine, one paid a $100 fine, and one was sentenced six hours of community service.

According to the Warren County Attorney Doug Eichholz, 12 families in Warren County are facing prosecution, with a majority of the cases inside the Indianola and Carlisle School Districts.

Eichholz said the law is helpful for the five school districts in his county because it creates a standardized policy for all schools.

“I think the frustrating part in the past has been that there was no uniformity in how the schools proceed. Some schools, in my opinion waited too long to get to the point where they tried to intervene with the kids that were missing,” he said.

Four families in Marshall County and one family in Hamilton County also facing prosecution, according to their respective County Attorney’s Offices.

If found guilty in truancy court, parents/guardians can charged with a simple misdemeanor. Penalties for the first offense include a fine up to $100 or facing up to 10 days in jail. For a second offense, parents/guardians can be charged up to $500 or face up to 20 days in jail, and for a third offense they can be charged up to $1,000 or face up to 30 days in jail.

The student, however, won’t face any penalty from the court.

“The only consequence that the student can face is related to their license and when they will get their full license. So, if we send a notice to the Department of Transportation that the student is chronically absent, then they can hold out from getting their license, their full license, until they turn 18,” said Eichholz.

However, Hicks says the goal isn’t to punish parents, but rather to encourage students to attend school.

“The view of our office and the court, I think, jail time has been very rare. And I don’t think that’s going to get to the core issues and it could cause more problems if the parent is jailed, loses a job, separated from the child. Hard to see how that’s going to solve the problem,” he said.

Hicks said that if parents make progress, charges will be dropped.

One criticism for the law Eichholz provided is a desire for more exceptions. He said, “When we’re not giving exceptions for, let’s say, problems with health, or when we make a child who has a chronic condition always have to show a note from a doctor. There’s some of that, I think, we can use some common sense with.”

The Iowa Association of School Boards shared this statement with WHO 13 News:

“We know attendance is key to student success and support efforts to ensure students are in school. However, the implementation of the new absenteeism and truancy law has had unintended consequences for some students. IASB has provided districts with sample policies as a result of this new law. We continue to work to educate and support our member districts. Additionally, we want to establish and continue collaborative relationships with county attorneys. We appreciate the intent, but implementation has been difficult for school districts. We hope to make improvements to the law in the upcoming legislative session.”

Iowa Association of School Boards

The new law specifies that the Board of Directors was responsible for outlining penalties associated with a child being chronically absent, and clarifying who is excused for medical or religious reasons, or due to having an individualized educational program.

Eichholz said that it was time for change. When he started his career as a prosecutor in Blackhawk County in 1996 and had these offenses, he said, “You could say to a child, ‘do you want your mom or do you want your dad to go to jail because you are not going to school?’ And at that point in time the children would start to cry and say no.”

However, he said times have changed over the last 28 years. “Some children just flat out look at us and say they don’t care. So, we have to do something to stay involved and make it better,” he said.

According to Eichholz, the new law helped speed their timeline. In Warren County, the first cases may go to trial in January if it gets to that point, whereas last year, the first cases didn’t go to a judge until May.

Warren County is also planning an intervention program that the county attorney’s office will roll out in early 2025 to further aid in lowering student absenteeism.