County Attorney Terry Curtiss is on a mission to reduce the instances of truancy as changes to methods of learning have occurred since the outbreak of COVID-19 and opened the door for students to be truant.
Curtiss discussed the issue at the Box Butte County Commissioners Meeting in November, discussing with them the possibility of using the Slagle Building for Zoom distance learning for Alliance High School students.
“This is part of my ongoing battle with truancy,” said Curtiss. “We have a number of students that are not attending school, and their parents want them to do it virtually, or they’re quarantined and they have difficulty logging in. Sometimes, they just don’t have access or passive access, they have issues with other people at home using the computer or need the computer, or brothers or sisters who create distractions.
“With the County Court having been moved over to the basement of the Slagle, we have infrastructure there that I think will allow us to establish a facility where they can come to,” Curtiss said. “We’d have them socially distance.”
Curtiss said he would not pursue the discussion between the county and Alliance Public Schools unless the commissioners said they would be interested in creating a possible solution.
“The fact of the matter is, some of the students pretend to distance learn,” said Curtiss. “I want to stop the pretending.”
The details would have to be worked out between the school and the county, Curtiss explained. He said he would require a para to oversee the students at the facility. He said students would wear a mask and be socially distanced at the facility. He said if the arrangement is agreed upon, the plan would go into effect in the second semester of the school year.
“Ultimately, when we get back to some semblance of normalcy, this will just fall by the wayside, but as of right now, I don’t know what to do with kids that are supposedly attending virtually and not doing it,” Curtiss said. “I basically threw in the towel on the pending truancy cases once they went into lockdown. They came out of it, so I started it in this school year, again, and I have a number of people that have too many absences already. The principals are the ones who brought up the fact that they really don’t know what to do about the virtuals that log in and don’t do anything. They’re supposed to participate in class, they’re supposed to do assignments, that kind of stuff. It’s not happening.”
Commissioner Doug Hashman asked whether there was enough room at the high school for such a setup. Curtiss said he was not sure about the arrangements at the high school, but noted he would require students to wear masks at the Slagle Building to allow quarantined students to attend Zoom classes at the facility.
Commissioner Susan Lore voiced her support Curtiss’s idea, asking if there would be any grant money available for such an arrangement. Curtiss said he would research possible grants to cover the costs. Curtiss emphasized that addressing truancy is part of his job as the Box Butte County Attorney, noting that after a student has 20 unexcused absences, the case is referred to him.
“I’m obligated to take action of some kind,” said Curtiss. “It’s been a very sore subject when I was on the board, and that didn’t happen. One of the things I made a vow about was I would be different about that as a county attorney. So, this is part of that. This issue is something I’m passionate about because kids gotta be in school. Period. That’s my mantra. I view this as a tool to help deal with that issue. If you don’t want the building used, you control the building, not me.”
The commissioners asked to have a representative from the school board at their first meeting in December to discuss the option.
Curtiss appeared at the Alliance School Board Meeting on Nov. 16 to discuss the arrangement with them. During the public comment section of the meeting, Curtiss explained the possibility of using the Slagle Building.
“There’s some things we’ll have to resolve, obviously, to be able to make it work,” said Curtiss. “I’m here to open that discussion.”
Curtiss noted that, due to concerns over liability, students who attended Zoom distance learning at the Slagle Building would be required to wear a mask. He emphasized that the idea is an effort to address the problem of truancy.
“It’s essential they do something to get educated,” said Curtiss. “Zoom has become, what I would call, a convenient game for students who don’t want to go to school to use, and parents who don’t want to fight with their kids about making them go to school, they engage in what I would call pretend education. I’m not particularly happy with that development.”
The board agreed to have a representative at the commissioners meeting to further the discussion.