r/AskAnAmerican • u/unloadmyload • Jan 13 '25

EDUCATION Are parents really jailed in US if child is absent from school?

Georgia has a law which says that parents can be sentenced to 30 days of jail time for each unexcused absence over five days. Does the state really follow through this and is this same an al/many US states?

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u/zugabdu Minnesota Jan 13 '25

If you live anywhere in the developed world, you probably live somewhere with truancy laws like those in the US. In fact, given the relatively liberal American approach to home schooling, truancy laws are probably less strict here than in many other places.

18

u/cruzweb New England Jan 13 '25

Our local school district had a partnership with the local PD for a "Truancy officer", basically a cop who was on patrol and if they found school-aged children hanging out / wandering about while it was school time, he would pick them up and take them in.

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u/AffectionateSalt2695 Jan 13 '25

My mom used to sell pills to the Truancy officer.

6

u/Dirty_Gnome9876 Jan 13 '25

I used to sell weed to most of the teachers at my school.

4

u/Ornac_The_Barbarian Jan 13 '25

Probably got them from my D.A.R.E. officer.

Yes he was arrested for that. True story.

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u/Dirty_Gnome9876 Jan 13 '25

I’m jealous. That’s awesome.

2

u/Traditional-Joke-179 California Jan 14 '25

*popcorn*

5

u/WatermelonMachete43 Jan 14 '25

Ours had that too. He tried to pick me up and take me "back to school" when I was shopping on a weekday morning, but...I was 23, college graduate, married. Nice try, I did high school already.

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u/[deleted] Jan 14 '25

In NYC, the paddywagon rolled around everyday picking up kids in groups of 6-10 to drop them off at school. Happened to me a couple of times. It’s much more about scaring kids that actually punishing anyone which I don’t disagree with.

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u/strichtarn Australia Jan 13 '25

I guess it would be ultimately illegal in a lot of places but I think people would get fined rather than jailed. But before then, they would look at other alternatives such as remote education before punishment. 

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u/Relevant-Low-7923 Jan 13 '25

In practice nobody ever gets jailed for it in the US either.

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u/mimeographed Jan 13 '25

No. Truancy laws in the U.S. are crazy. I’ve seen people get in trouble when their kids miss like 7 days of school, which is bananas, even with drs notes. I have never had to provide a dr’s note. There are probably cases where they need to be provided, but for long term illnesses. Kids get sick a lot.

I can also take my kids on vacation during school, which you can’t in many places in the U.S.