Student tardies land parents in court
WASHINGTON — Amy and Mark Denicore are headed to a full-blown trial to defend themselves against charges that they violated Virginia law by making their kids late to elementary school too often.
The Loudoun County, Va., couple was arraigned Monday morning in juvenile and domestic relations court. Judge Pamela Brooks set a trial date of March 14.
The Denicores are each charged with three Class 3 misdemeanors, each of which carries a maximum fine of $500. Their three children, ages 6, 7 and 9, have been late to school almost 30 times since September. Most of their tardies were three minutes or less.
Their case has sparked debate about whether the school system is overreacting to a minor offense or rightly clamping down on a habit that’s disruptive to teachers and other students.
Across the country, some states and local jurisdictions have begun to move away from a punitive approach to enforcing attendance rules. Police in Los Angeles had been issuing $250 truancy tickets to tardy students until recent months, when the policy was scaled back in response to an uprising by parents and activists.
“Punitive discipline leads to a higher dropout rate, more hostility in schools, it leads to kids disengaging from learning and it alienates parents,” said Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of Advancement Project, a civil rights organization that has advocated against harsh school discipline. “It is counter to everything that we know should be done.”
Other states have doubled down. An unusually strong Nebraska law passed in 2010 requires schools to refer students to the county attorney general after 20 absences, whether they’re excused or unexcused. The state commissioner of education, Roger Breed, has hailed the measure for shrinking the number of children who are chronically absent.
The Denicores -- both of whom are trained as lawyers -- argue that whatever one’s opinion of their parenting, Loudoun County has no legal authority to convict them of a crime.
They are charged under the state’s compulsory education law, which says parents have to send their kids to school “for the same number of days and hours per day” as school is in session.
Another statute clearly spells out how school systems must proceed in the case of chronic absences when there is “no indication that the pupil’s parent is aware of and supports the pupil’s absence.” Neither statute specifically addresses tardiness.
The Denicores said they will move on March 14 to have their case dismissed. If it proceeds, they plan to subpoena a handful of witnesses to testify, including their kids’ teachers and principal.
In court Monday, Brooks told the couple that similar trials are generally scheduled for 12-15 minutes, but there is no time limit for arguments.
Mark Denicore’s take on tall this: “This is the nanny state gone wild.”
Virginia law clearly spells out a school system’s responsibility when a child is chronically absent. But it doesn’t explicitly deal with tardiness.
The Denicores, whose kids have been late an average of one of every three school days since September, are among a growing number of Loudoun parents who argue that county bureaucrats have reached beyond the scope of state statutes -- not to mention common sense.
Loudoun officials, meanwhile, say they’re simply doing what’s necessary to protect kids.
“It’s not just trying to meddle in someone’s affairs or dictate how someone raises their child,” said Wayde Byard, spokesman for Loudoun County Public Schools. “It’s a child-welfare issue, basically.”
The school system isn’t cracking down on attendance, Byard said -- just following its long-standing policies. According to the sheriff’s office, the Denicores are among dozens of Loudoun families who are summoned to court each year for attendance violations. Most other area school systems deal with lateness internally and save court action for cases of chronic absences.
On a recent weekday, the three Denicore kids (ages 6, 7 and 9) finished breakfast as their 13-year-old doe-eyed dog padded around the house.
Amy Denicore shepherds the kids to school by herself each morning after her husband leaves for an early commute to Washington, where the lawyer and engineer has his own firm. Mark Denicore also founded and runs a charity for Haitian earthquake victims.
As mom braided Daisy’s hair and helped Dahlia practice spelling words for the day’s coming quiz, Tucker entertained himself with a remote-control helicopter.
They then piled into the family minivan at 7:41 for a two-minute trip to Waterford Elementary, where -- on this day -- they beat the 7:50 bell.
“Punctuality is important, but it’s not the end-all be-all,” said Amy Denicore, a room mother and regular volunteer at the school. “It’s not my goal that the kids are late, but my goal is that they arrive to school well-fed, ready to learn and comfortable in their skin.”
It seems there’s often a last-minute issue that costs them a few crucial minutes in the morning -- one child dallies over breakfast, another goes off to brush her teeth and disappears.
Getting the kids up 15 minutes earlier and setting the house clocks ahead hasn’t helped much.
The kids’ academics don’t appear to be suffering. Their report cards, which arrived the day after the court summons, are glowing. “A wonderful student admired by her peers,” reads one. “You should be very proud,” reads another.
The report cards also include a box that teachers can check to indicate that “learning may have been affected by tardies.” None of the Denicores’ boxes were checked.
“If they were doing poorly in school or if they were disruptive in school and weren’t trying, that would be different,” Amy Denicore said. “When you have kids who have been doing beautifully in school and they’re suddenly being labeled truant -- it seems like a real disconnect.”
School officials said tardiness affects more than the latecomer -- it wastes time for the whole class. “Everything kind of stops for a few minutes and you have to reacclimate students into the classroom activities. That’s a problem,” said Anne Lewis, Loudoun’s director of student services.
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Principals are responsible for referring families to one of the county’s five truancy officers. The school system declined to make Waterford’s principal available for an interview but said she was adhering to the requirement to take action after five unexcused absences or a consistent pattern of tardies.
“There’s some leeway in terms of how many tardies, but it has to be a good number,” Lewis said.
A Class 3 misdemeanor can bring a fine of up to $500, a fee that’s often suspended and ultimately forgiven as long as the parents improve their children’s attendance.
Other times, the situation escalates. On Jan. 21, Maureen Blake was arrested and charged with “contributing to the delinquency of her minor children by causing them to be habitually late to school,” according to court documents.
This was her second go-round in the Loudoun courts for tardiness, she said, and now she faces a Class 1 misdemeanor that can carry a maximum of 12 months in jail.