The Village of Algonquin ("Village" ... ha-ha-ha) plans to begin hammering truants of schools within its city (errrr, I guess that would be "Village") limits, according to announcement of its new truancy law. First offense, $75.00. Second offense, $300.00 (that's $150.00 for the truant and $150.00 for the parent or guardian).
I wonder who dreamed up that one. Who is the law firm for the Village?
The scary part of this morning's Northwest Herald is the revelation that this scheme was hatched after discussions between the Jacobs High School resource officer and the school's administration. Now, here's the gripe. The "resource officer" is a police officer assigned to the school by the Algonquin Police Department; right?
So why is a police officer stirring up policy? He (or she) is an employee of the police department; his job is to enforce the law (criminal law), not make it.
Tickets for truancy will be heard in Algonquin's administration adjudication court, where the "Village" gets to keep 100% of the take, including court courts, in what are civil transgressions, not criminal actions. Kind of gives new meaning to the phrase "civil servants", doesn't it, when cops issue revenue-generating tickets for civil violations.
But the rip-off is the $300 fine for the second violation.
It's clear proof that internal procedures at Jacobs are ineffective. Among them, according to the article, are "counseling" and "speaking with the students and parents." Give me a (fill-in-the-blank) break! No wonder truancy must be out of control.
What's wrong with, "George, State law requires you to be in school. You don't have a choice. Get it?"
Since most of the truant students don't have jobs or money (except for iPhones and off-the-butt designer jeans and lots of bling), the schools (or courts) should create work projects so the kid can work off his fine and court costs. Why should parents get stuck for it, unless they have condoned the truancy?
Why should a parent have to head over to the PayDay Loan (300-400% interest) sharks? Give the kid a broom and some plastic bags and send him out in 100-degree heat to start sweeping the gutters. Put a yellow vest on him with the words, "I was truant."
Note to the schools: get rid of the $80,000/year robots at the front of the classrooms who can't make school interesting enough to keep a kid in class.
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
6 comments:
It's always easy to say ... Gus you may have hit the nail on the head in this article ...
So many good ideas:
What is a police officer doing suggesting policy,
Why haven't parents threatened to quit (homeschool)
This is a great example of government gone wild .... and in suburbia government always wins!!!
Wonder what they will do with the extra $100,000 per year?
In a related note, Algonquin was the same village that demanded everyone with a gravel driveway to have it paved ... on the homeowner's dime, many little old ladies got run over on that one...
City government gone off the rails.
Thanks, Ray!
Algonquin is the "Village" that could not foresee that Tyvek Towers was going to be a bust. Maybe they should have gotten a rocket scientist before approving that one. Nobody was going to buy an expensive condo on that corner, and I'll bet those high-rent apartments will stay empty, if the building ever does get finished.
Ray nailed it ... government gone wild indeed. Too bad people are too damn stupid to know there's power in numbers. Wouldn't it be nice if the school was boycotted by every parent in the district? When are people going to wake up, get pissed and say enough is enough????
Thanks, Karen. Boycotting won't be enough, because "government" and schools will just continue to do what they want to, but without challenge.
The People must start showing up at public meetings and (politely and respectfully, but with verbal force) telling those at the front of the room what they want and what they don't want.
And they need to organize, in order to be more than noisy flies just buzzing around for a few minutes.
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