Students and parents tell LA truancy task force to end the tickets and fines

09-02-2011

By Annette Fuentes/New America Media

Nabil Romero and his brother were on their way to school one morning, taking two Los Angeles city buses that day because their mother couldn’t drive them as she normally would. The route is long and the buses slow, and when they got off, they had to walk a few more blocks to Roybal Learning Center. It was already 8:40 a.m., after the school bell had rung. “An officer stopped us and asked why we weren’t in school,” Romero, 17, recalled. Romero said he tried to explain, but the police officer ordered the boys to sit on the curb, handcuffed them and then gave them tickets for truancy. A member of the school’s football team, Romero was sent to detention, where he was given no work. He was sidelined from a football game that afternoon and lost a whole day of school. “For being 40 minutes late, I missed the game and missed a vital day in class,” he said. “There are multiple reasons why students are tardy and no one asks why.” (more...)

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Students and parents tell LA truancy task force to end the tickets and fines

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