BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT -- A 17-year-old Newport High School student, her two teen-aged brothers and their mother are serving time because the children refuse to go to school.
Described by Campbell District Judge Mickey Foellger as the most habitual truant he's seen, the 17-year-old is serving 10 days of house arrest.
Her two brothers, 14 and 15, are spending 10 days in a juvenile detention center in Maysville for missing between 30 and 40 days of school this year. The children's mother is serving 10 days in the Campbell County Jail for violating court orders to keep her children in school.
Because the case was handled in juvenile court, the names of the students and their mother were not released. Family members therefore could not be reached for comment. Officials could not comment on whether there are other children in the family.
And Judge Foellger has now summoned the father to court, to hold him accountable for his children's actions.
"This may be the first case where I've given detention to an entire family," Judge Foellger said.
"But it built and grew from one kid to the others."
The 17-year-old has been in and out of juvenile court every three months for the past three years, Judge Foellger said.
"The daughter is the ring leader of the pack. Her two younger brothers see she gets away with it so they started skipping," Judge Foellger said. "The majority of the school year they just do not go."
Judge Foellger said the 17-year-old has been given detention before.
But there is often no place to house a female juvenile offender so the detention often goes unserved.
When that happens, students don't take the system seriously. But school and court officials do.
Roger VonStrohe, director of pupil personnel, said truancy is a continuous problem in the district.
"It's an unfortunate thing that a parent is in jail and children are in detention but sometimes we have to take a drastic step to save a child," Mr. VonStrohe said.
Schools and courts work under provisions in the compulsory attendance law, which makes school attendance mandatory.
Violations carry fines of $100 for a first offense; $250 for a second offense and jail time for a third offense.
But not going to school is a status offense; one that's hard to enforce.
That's why the juvenile court and the county attorney's office prosecute every case they can.
Judge Foellger said he handled about 10 cases on Wednesday, the same day he ordered detention for the 17-year-old and her family. "It's a serious juvenile problem, not the fact that a child doesn't go to school but the failure to go brings out other serious problems," Campbell County Attorney Paul Twehues said.
"When kids are not in school they are not supervised, and they don't have the discipline they need. That's when they get into other things like drugs and burglaries."
Mr. VonStrohe said the school and the courts have repeatedly tried to work with the 17-year-old and her family, but the children were still not coming to school.
Under her house arrest, the 17-year-old will be monitored by a court-operated voice identification system that will call her home at various times to make sure she is there.
