BY LISA DONOVAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati safety officials want a permanent daytime curfew, designed to keep youths who have been suspended or expelled from school off the streets.
A trial run of the curfew convinced city officials the law is one way to deal with youths at risk of dropping out of school and committing crimes, according to a report issued Tuesday.
"The daytime curfew ordinance is an important part of the overall community strategy to increase school attendance," according to the report, submitted by Safety Director Kent Ryan.
"It supports (Cincinnati Public Schools') suspension and expulsion practices and provides for law enforcement intervention with a group of juvenile offenders with a high proclivity for violent and disorderly behavior."
According to the report, the connection between crime and students suspended and expelled is "graphic."
Over the past three years, Cincinnati Public Schools has suspended an average of 14,000 students annually.
One figure shows that during the 1996-97 year, 50 students were suspended for physical assaults on school staff members, while 128 were expelled for the same offense.
Overall, 1,081 were suspended that year for "violent disorderly behavior" while 174 were expelled for the same actions.
The curfew, in effect since Nov. 3, requires that suspended or expelled students be at home, with a parent or guardian, or at a designated learning center during school hours.
The trial period for the curfew was set to expire in April but council extended it to today.
The curfew closed a loophole that gave suspended or expelled students immunity from truancy sweeps because they were not supposed to be in school.
"With the daytime curfew, students who get in trouble no longer get a free pass to hit the streets if they're expelled," said Councilman Phil Heimlich, who sponsored the measure.
The full council likely will consider the measure at its August meeting.
In other city business:
City council will consider a proposal to spend $200,000 to hire attorneys outside the city's law department to handle a federal suit filed against the city by the Ohio Contractors Association. The group wants to block the minority set-aside plan for the $146.9 million overhaul of Fort Washington Way downtown.
Council approved a set-aside plan that would require a contractor to subcontract 20 percent or more of any public works project to firms owned by the disadvantaged, women or minorities.
The administration has recommended moving ahead with spending $4.3 million on downtown land for a new Contemporary Arts Center. The facility would be built at Sixth and Walnut streets and is expected to attract 150,000 to 300,000 visitors annually -- triple what the museum at Fourth Street accommodates now.
