Local Alternative school options:
- Renaissance Alternative School
- Hartland Community Education - (810) - 632-6022
What is School Truancy?
The State of Michigan has a Compulsory Education Law which makes it the responsibility of the parents or guardian or other persons in control of a child to see that any child between the ages of 6 and 16 years attends public school and be properly equipped to participate in the school activities. If the parents or guardians make every effort to see that the child attends school but the child refuses, the child may be found responsible for his/her actions on the basis of being repeatedly disobedient to the reasonable and lawful commands of his/her parent's or he/she habitually idles away his time. If the child does attend school but violates the school's rules and regulations he/she is disobeying the Compulsory Education Law.
Your local school board has the responsibility for seeing that you attend school and exhibit good behavior while you are there. It appoints an attendance officer to investigate why you are missing school or why you are misbehaving in school. It is his/her job to find out the reasons for your actions, notify your parents or guardian of his/her concern and confer with them and the school staff in an effort to resolve your problems.
If these efforts are unsuccessful, the attendance officer may refer you and your parents or guardian to Court. If your absence or misbehavior is willful, the attendance officer will refer you to Court. If your absence is due to a parent or guardian's failure to send you to school, the attendance officer will refer them to Court.
When your parent or guardian does not send you to school, this may also result in court action, but against the parent or guardian instead of you. If the county prosecutor chooses, he/she may file charges against your parent or guardian in District Court rather than in Juvenile Court. If the Court finds the Prosecutor's allegation to be true, it may:
- Fine the parent or guardian;
- Imprison the parent or guardian in the county jail;
- Both fine and imprison the parent or guardian.