Truancy Court
There is something called Truancy Court which operates
now in the Des Moines Schools and Polk County
Courts. When scores began to go down, a study was
made to find out what factors affected them. One
major factor came up over and over: attendance.
If a student is not in school, it is very difficult to
learn what is taught at school!
To increase parental involvement, to help parents
understand how important "being there" is to a
student, and to offer help to families and schools,
Truancy Court was started. Some parents and
students believed that early grades were not that
important and family vacations, sleeping in, and other
activities were more important. After a time, the
losses can add up. The smartest child in the world
suffers if s/he lacks the opportunity of being taught.
When a teacher presents a lesson, s/he is always more
thorough and interesting, than when "catching
up" in brief moments or after school. Student
interaction is vigorous and inspiring to others and they
help each other understand just by working and talking
about something. Research has shown that doing
activities to use the knowledge and talking about how to
use it, can assist the understanding of concepts much
more than a worksheet. How can a teacher send home
a science experiment safely? a group acting out
the meaning of something? a song or tape?
the interaction and responsibilities connected with a
butterfly hatching or a crayfish? the excitement to a
race to get the answers on a math quiz? the thrill
of knowing something no one else has figured out
yet? the discussion of what happened in the story
and what it means to us?
Knowledge doubles every couple of years now because of
computers, curiosity, investigations being made,
etc. There is a lot to learn and we don't have
time to do "See Spot run." At a
relatively young age, children need to learn to get
along with others, solve problems, and understand the
basic needs of themselves and others. Without that
knowledge, they begin behind the rest.
Some appointments must be made at certain times of the
day and we have no control over that, but whenever
possible, appointments should be scheduled outside of
the school day.
We are teaching good work skills when we teach children
to be on time, clean, ready to work, and to follow the
workplace rules. You do not do a child a favor by
letting him/her believe having one's own way shows
importance, or sleeping in is acceptable, or making
excuses or whining gets you out of trouble, or others
will accept poorly done, sloppy, unreadable, messy,
unclear, lazy work or a bad attitude or rudeness
without negative consequences. Quality of life
will be poor their whole life, because they will lose
jobs faster than anyone else and be unable to do good
work----those people won't know how to do good work!
At Pleasant Hill School we have always had an enviable
record on attendance; frequently, Pleasant Hill has had
the best attendance record in the Des Moines Public
Schools. Along with that go the fine scores on
reading and math and ITBS. Scores are not
everything; middle schools tell us they like
receiving our students because they are well-prepared,
they frequently demonstrate fine leadership skills ,
their academics are strong, and they come to school to
work with a good attitude. (They also bring good
families and parents to support the schools.)
Please help us continue these proud
traditions--encourage good attendance!
Open Enrollment
PATRON NOTIFICATION
Between District Open Enrollment
Code of Iowa – 281-17.3(2)
Parents/Guardians considering the use of
the open enrollment option to enroll
their children in another public school
district in the state of Iowa should be
aware of the following dates:
January 1, 2005 is the last date for
regular open enrollment requests for the
2004-2005 school year.
September
16, 2005 is the last date for open
enrollment requests for entering
kindergarten students and those students
falling under the “good cause”
definition for the 2004-2005 school
year. To insure that the transfer of
individual students does not adversely
affect the desegregation plan of the
District, certain limitations to open
enrollment have been established. Parents of kindergarten students are therefore encouraged to make
application requests prior to January 1,
2006.
TRANSPORTATION:
Parents/Guardians of open enrolled
students whose income falls below 160%
of the federal poverty guidelines are
eligible for transportation assistance.
This may be in the form of actual
transportation or in the form of a cash
stipend. An application form and
complete copy of the District’s open
enrollment policy and procedures may be
obtained from the Department of Student
Services, 1801 – 16th
Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50314.
