The system may be a little messy, but according to San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Jim Patterson, it works.
Patterson was, of course, referring to a proposed truancy ordinance that county officials decided to scrap after public outcry over a potential daytime curfew for minors.
“I think this illustrates clearly that the process works,” Patterson said at the May 8 Board of Supervisors meeting minutes before county supervisors voted unanimously to withdraw the proposed ordinance.
On Dec. 13, 2011, officials from the county Probation Department and Sheriff’s Department put forward an ordinance aimed at curbing habitual truancy. But a suggestion to impose daytime curfews had parents of home-schooled children in an uproar. The item went before county supervisors on Jan. 17 of this year, but was sent back to the drawing board.
Since then, Chief Probation Officer Jim Salio said he and other county officials met with county attorneys as well as local parents. Ultimately, they decided to withdraw the proposed ordinance and opted instead for a plan to modify state rules in a way that will allow officials to cite habitual truants and bring them to juvenile traffic court.
This article appears in May 10-17, 2012.