To Get Kids To Class, L.A. Softens Its Hard Line : NPR: ...Criollo's group got a hold of police data showing that in five years, officers issued 47,000 truancy tickets — most right next to schools in lower-income neighborhoods. Blacks and Latinos received a disproportionate number of the tickets, compared with the makeup of the student population. The daytime curfew only applies to unaccompanied minors. Criollo points out that in richer neighborhoods, tardy kids often escape tickets because their parents drive them to school. Kids in poor neighborhoods usually rely on public buses.
At a recent rally to protest the law, teacher Andrew Terranova explains that tickets meant to scare kids into going to school have had the opposite effect.
"I had students who I'd say, 'Where were you yesterday? You were absent from my class.' 'Oh, Mister, I was late. I missed my connecting bus so I went home.' 'Why'd you go home?' 'Oh, I was afraid of getting another truancy ticket.' "
Michael Nash, the presiding judge for L.A.'s Juvenile Court, where most of the tickets and fines are handled, called the fines crazy.
