When he received his first truancy ticket in front of RFK, junior Gabriel Talley was forced to pay up $250 and complete 30 community service hours. The hours were assigned Downtown, cleaning bathrooms.

“I felt horrible. I didn’t understand why I was there for just being late,” said Talley, who has since received numerous tickets. Many of the tickets have been legitimate, for reasons such as possessing marijuana or vandalism. But the tickets for being tardy, he says, were unjustified.

Recent truancy ticket guidelines released Jan. 3 by the Juvenile Court outline a new school attendance protocol.

“The court shall dismiss any citation where the evidence shows the youth was late to school or en route to school,” said the letter from Presiding Judge Michael Nash to all Informal Juvenile and Traffic Court (IJTC) Judicial Officers.

At court, for continued cases, students are given 60 days to show “no unexcused absences and minimal tardies.”

The guidelines aim to fix a system that unfairly gave costly tickets to students, disproportionally of minority backgrounds, who were simply running late, said a press release from Public Counsel, whose offices are walking distance from the RFK campus.

In a district with the majority of students of minority backgrounds, the truancy laws were “disproportionately targeting African American and Latino students and their families,” said the Public Counsel press release.

Police issued more than 47,000 truancy tickets from 2004 to 2009, according to LAPD and Los Angeles School Police data requested by Public Counsel, the ACLU of Southern California and Community Right Compaign. Of all the tickets given, 88% of them were to African American and Latino students, who make up only 74% of Los Angeles students.

Previous police protocol had officers stopping juveniles if they were out of school between 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 a.m., said LAPD patrol officer Yau, who after handcuffing him, was responsible for giving Talley his truancy ticket. That was the Letter of the Law. 

“A lot the time what the officers were doing were getting students at the gate and giving them tickets,” Yau said.

Students now have the opportunity to mail evidence, like attendance records or school letter, to the court. Before, students were forced to make court appearances, often having to miss school.

Students with serious attendance problems will have 60 days to show improvement. If the student continues to miss school or come late after the two months, the court “may refer the youth to an appropriate program, order 20 hours of community service or both.” 

These program options are a key part of the changes fought for by the pro bono law firm who took up the case, Public Counsel. Students may not have to pay fines or do community services hours as long as they show “substantial participation” in community-based or school-based programs. 

Nash’s letter states that the programs would suffice requirement include those for tutoring, credit recovery, after-school support or any other that “would address the core issues underlying the school attendance problem.”

An LAUSD board discussion on Jan. 18 outlined, in addition to a possible change to the actual truancy law, a job alternative to the community hours. The resolutions from the meeting included working together with Youth WorkSource Centers, a leader in youth programs focused on getting students hired.

When RFK opened its doors, schools on campus with different schedules initially presented authorities outside of school, like LAPD officers, with conflicting policies regarding the truancy guidelines at the time. 

Last year, ASGL’s 9:40 a.m. Wednesday start resulted in several students receiving truancy tickets when there were actually on their way to class. That issue was fixed last January when LAPD and school police cleared up the confusion.

“Whenever feasible, officers who encounter students off campus during school hours should cause the facilitation of the minor student’s return to his/her school,” said the letter from the Chief of the Los Angeles School Police Department to all department personnel. 

The change in police protocol was more of a clarification, than a law change, said Zavala.

With so much time spent on campus, school police officer Zavala understands the differences between schools and has become familiar with many of the faces.

Those he is not sure of, he always takes the extra step of assuring their age and purpose. 

“That’s why you take a student back to school,” said Zavala, who insisted that local authorities not create a Truancy Task Force near a campus with six unique schedules. A Truancy Task Force, composed of additional officers, would solely focus on targeting truants. 

Students are constantly coming in and out of school because of the distinct schedules that the Task Force would not be effective. If officers have reason to believe a student is truant, they must confirm with school personnel. That is why officers bring students back to school, Zavala said.

“You got kids who are going to school or class late, but you have students who actually ditch,” Yau said.

It is this constant ditching that makes campus aid Rigo Mendez skeptical of the new guidelines.

“Making the tickets easier to dismiss will make it easier for students to miss class,” Mendez said.

Herbert Muralles, new counselor at ASGL, agrees. For him, tardiness is a matter of discipline. Yet, he said, his ultimate goal is student attendance, and so far he said he has seen better results here than at his previous school, a Magnet school at Dorsey High School.

“It’s not that I want parents to pay fines, but I want [their children] to come to school,” Muralles said.

For some of those most involved in the students’ lives, the issue is a matter of attendance and safety, not punishment. 

“The purpose of truancy, Daytime Curfew, is to get kids to stay in school,” Zavala said.

In an interview on Jan. 18 with radio station KPCC, superintendent John Deasy explained his position on the guidelines. 

Guidelines that would reduce absences due to court appearance seem fitting to a superintendent in charge of boosting attendance rates.

“Students are trying to balance work, child care, sibling care, homework and getting to school on time. Habitual chronic is different being late five minutes,” Deasy said. 

“The judge in my opinion made a judicial statement that there are circumstances beyond the control of kids who desire to be in school. I actually support what he did.”

Yet, he also affirmed his belief, parallel to that of the working world’s, that being on time is critical. 

“It is your responsibility to get to school on time. End of story. Nothing in [the guidelines] should be excusing that responsibility,” Deasy said.