The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1895-08-30
The New Truant Law,

The South Haven Sentinel, comment
ing on the new compulsory education
law, says Under it the parents will
have little to say of the schooling of
their children. The truant officer
whose appointment is obligatory upon
the school board, is obliged to arrest
all children, between the ages of seven
and sixteen years, who do not attend
school, and take them before justice
of the peace, who is obliged to fine
them not less than So or more than $50,
or Imprisonment flom two to sixty
days. The attendance shall also be
consecutive, and where sickness is
urged rs an excuse, the school board
may send for physician TO ascertain
the truth by examination"
The Sentinel must have read the law
very carelessly, or not at all, as its pro-
visions are quite dlssimilar to the
above.
Section l of the law provides that all
children between the ages of eight and
fourteen years, in cities between the
age of seven and sixteen years, shall
attend school for a period of four
months; that such attendance shall be
consecutive and shall be previous to the
3Oth day OF June in each year. Children
attending private schools where the
common branches are taught, or who
have previously acquired a knowledge
of such branches, or who are physically
unable to attend, (the truant officer or
district board may require physician 5
certlticate,) are exempt from the law,
as also are all children where public
school shall not be taught during the
time specified within two miles, by the
nearest travelled road.
Section makes it obligatory on
school boards in graded districts, pre-
vious TO the 10th day of September, to
appoint a truant officer for the term of
one year. In primary districts, the
chairman of the board of school in
spectors acts as such officer Members
of the police force in cities may be de.
tailed for such service. The cOmpen-
sation of the truant officer is limited TO
81 80 per day.
Section defines the duty of the
truant officer, requires him to investi-
gate and serve notice on parents and
guardians, informing them that their
truant children must attend school at
least eight consecutive half days each
week until the end of the term, except
in cities, where the attendance must be
continuous. If the parent or guardian
fails to comply with the provisions of
the law, such parent or guardiar-not
the child or children-become liable,
on conviction, to pay fine of from So
to $50, or to be jailed for from two to
ninety days, or both such fine and i'm
prisonment at the discretion of the
court.
Section provides for the establish
ment of ungraded schools in cities.
Section provides for sending certain
incorrigible and vicious children to such
ungraded schools.
Section makes it the duty of the
truant officer TO make complaint before
magistrate against parents and guar.
dians-uot against the children-when
they shall not, within one week, COM
ply with the notice mentioned in sec.
ton 3, and further provides that school
officers, superintendent and teachers,
shall render assistance and furnish in
formation to the truant officer.
Section provides that when a school
board and the truant officer shall, in
their judgment, have exhausted all le-
gal means to compel attendance at
school, that in such case the child shall,
if adjudged TO be juvenile disorderly
person within the meaning OF this law,
be sent to the industrial school at Ian.
sing, if boy, and If a girl, to the in.
dustrial home at Adrian.
Section repeals all laws inconsistent
with the foregoing