Ventura Adopts New Student Daytime Curfew

Beginning Sept. 5, it will be illegal for Ventura youths to be on the streets between 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on school days.

Despite protests from parents and concerns raised by one official over possible lawsuits, a split City Council on Monday adopted a daytime curfew called the Safe Students Ordinance.

“I am absolutely confident that this ordinance will prove to be an effective tool for our officers” to combat truancy, Police Chief Mike Tracy told the council. The panel voted 5 to 2 in favor of the ordinance.

According to district officials, school attendance rates have increased over the last three years--from 94.5% to 95.2%--because of measures already in place. In fact, officials said, reductions in truancy during the last year helped the school district recoup an extra $750,000 in its budget.

Nancy Bradford, director of administration support services for the Ventura Unified School District, estimates that only about 1% of absent students actually are truant.

Under the new ordinance, school-age youths could be stopped and questioned by police if they are found off campus. If the youth has skipped classes, the officer would return the student to school and have the option of issuing a citation.

School district officials say how they deal with those students will depend on the individual and the number of accumulated absences.

If the student has an excessive number of absences, the youth could be referred to a school attendance review board, a panel made up of representatives from the school, social services agencies and law enforcement.

Because absences can go unnoticed for a long period, district officials say, it takes an average of 20 absences before a student is referred to the board.

Police say that under the new ordinance they don’t expect to pick up any more truants, which average about 500 a year. The difference, they say, is in how those students will be dealt with. The aim, officials said, is to discourage students from skipping school again after they’ve been caught the first time.

Councilman Neal Andrews, who along with Councilman Carl Morehouse voted against the ordinance, said the curfew is unnecessary, and very likely will spur lawsuits against the city.

“I think the risk of court challenge costs is unwarranted,” Andrews said.

During the council’s discussion, City Atty. Robert Boehm said defending against a court challenge to the ordinance could cost the city as much as $500,000. And if the ordinance is challenged under the Civil Rights Act, which Boehm said would be a probable tack, the losing side could have to pay the victor’s court costs as well.

Michael Smith, president of the Virginia-based Home School Legal Defense Assn., which is now challenging the nation’s first daytime curfew in Monrovia, said his organization is watching Ventura and scores of other California cities that have adopted curfews.

Ventura officials maintain nighttime curfews have been upheld by the courts, and that the city’s ordinance is no different.

“It’s worth putting faith in the partnership between the school district and the city and give this a try,” Mayor Ray DiGuilio said.

Although the new school year begins Aug. 28, the curfew will not take effect until Sept. 5.