Enforcement Key to Truancy Measure : Ordinance calling for ‘ticketing’ of wayward youths requires backing of elected officials

The best ordinances are never enacted in a vacuum. All the logical questions must be answered first or we are left with an ordinance that often isn’t worth the paper on which it’s printed.

That’s why we had a lot of questions when Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick proposed to bring a small-town school truancy solution to the nation’s second largest city.

Monrovia has just 25 truants a day. So, its policy of “ticketing” truants and requiring a juvenile court appearance for the offenders and their parents or guardians is easily managed. It’s also simple to monitor the punishments of a fine, community service or a suspended driver’s license. But what about L.A. and its regular army of 25,600 truants?

To her credit, Chick has answered our questions, but we have a few more to ask before the City Council takes this up again next week.

Yes, the Los Angeles Police Department favors it because it will be less of a burden to hand out a ticket than to drive truants back to their schools. Yes, the supervising referee of the juvenile traffic court, among other court officials, has outlined fines and procedures and has indicated that the court can take on 4,000 to 5,000 such cases a month. And the same system used to monitor others who have been ordered to do community service can be used here.

But some council members want assurances that the ordinance will be enforced equally among racial and ethnic groups, and we have an added concern. We’ve no doubt, for example, that such an ordinance will be enforced in Chick’s district, but what about the others? Is every council member who backs this idea willing to take the time to see that it is enforced in their areas? Are community leaders willing to press for that too? This promising ordinance can work, but only if elected officials demand its proper enforcement.