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Published on: 11/7/2001
Last Visited: 11/7/2001
Perry principal James D'Ambra said referring cases to truancy court , which will be set up in the school cafeteria later this month , will be an item of last resort that he will employ after all other attempts to get pupils to come to school have failed.
Under the law , the court may impose $50-per-day fines on parents of truant children.A $500 fine and up to six months in jail could be imposed if a student is absent more than 30 days.
However , D'Ambra said that no fines have yet been handed out and no parents have been jailed as a result of the truancy court program.
I'm an educator.I'm not looking to punish parents or punish kids , D'Ambra said.The court aims to get the message to parents that they have to make sure their kids are coming to school..
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Gould said the demonstrators showed up to encourage D'Ambra to hold an evening meeting and solicit parents' input before establishing a court at Perry.
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D'Ambra said he did meet yesterday morning with two Perry parents.After he explained the program to them , he said , they voiced no objection to the truancy court concept.
In fact , since taking over as principal in July , D'Ambra said he has met with parents and students , who have told them that what they want is a safe environment where learning can take place.
He said he has tried to create that environment by establishing after-school programs , run by the Black Repertory Theater and the Urban League of Rhode Island ; vowing to lower student failure rates from 60 percent to 10 percent this year and by winning a commitment from teachers to make classrooms challenging and interesting.
D'Ambra said he shares the opinion of court critics who maintain that providing quality education is key to addressing truancy.
The program at Perry aims to do just that , he said , by offering prevention programs and by employing counselors and social workers to identify and eliminate barriers that keep pupils from attending class.
It's not about legalities , finesand jail systems , D'Ambra said.We want parents to know that education is the single most important investment they can make in their children and their child has to buy into that..
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