School officials in Anaheim are trying out a new a high-tech solution in an effort to get truant kids back in the classroom.
Around 75 Anaheim Unified High School students who have four or more unexcused absences will be tracked by a GPS device, according to the Orange County Register.
The program is a first for California. Students and parents can volunteer for it in an effort to avoid prosecution and fines of up to $2,000.
"The idea is for this not to feel like a punishment, but an intervention to help them develop better habits and get to school," Miller Sylvan, regional director for AIM Truancy Solutions, told the Register.
Sylvan told the Register that the GPS is not attached to a student to avoid any stigma. Instead they carry it like a cell phone and are required to interact with it throughout the school day. Each morning they get an automated reminder to attend school.
According to the Register:
Then, five times a day, they are required to enter a code that tracks their locations – as they leave for school, when they arrive at school, at lunchtime, when they leave school and at 8 p.m.
The students are also assigned an adult coach who calls them at least three times a week to see how they are doing and help them find effective ways to make sure they get to class on time.
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"This is their last chance at an intervention," Kristen Levitin, principal at Dale Junior High in west Anaheim, told the Register. "Anything that can help these kids get to class is a good thing."
Some parents expressed concern about having their kids constantly tracked.
"This makes us seem like common criminals," Raphael Garcia, whose 6th grader has six unexcused absences, told the Register.
Schools lose about $35 per day for each absent student. The GPS program costs about $8 per day. In cities that have tried the program such as Baltimore and San Antonio, average attendance of truant students jumped from 77 percent up to 95 percent, the Register reported.
