Student gets arrest threat over absences

Parent: Principal’s letter warns about truancy law over missed Zoom sessions

LAFAYETTE >> Miss three 30-minute Zoom classes in a single day and go to jail?

For a 12-year- old Stanley Middle School student, that could be the consequence, according to a letter the boy’s father received from the school principal.

And according to the seventh grader’s father, Mark Mastrov, other Lafayette parents have received similar letters because their children allegedly missed Zoom time during their distance learning — a pandemic version of playing hooky.

“Out of the blue, we got this letter. It said my son had missed classes, and at the bottom it referenced a state law which said truants can go to jail for missing 90 minutes of class,” Mastrov said in an interview. “I called the school and said, ‘Hey, I want to clear this up.’

“I was told that it was the law. I said, ‘Are you kidding me? Then that’s a bad law.’ ”

Mastrov said his son, a straight-A student, denies missing any classes. The father suspects he may have been marked as absent if he logged into a session late and the teacher had already taken roll call.

“I am not sure what happened,” Mastrov said. But he believes it may explain why other parents he knows have also received such letters.

The state education code defines a student as truant if absent from school without a valid excuse three full days in a single school year, if consistently tardy or if absent for more than a 30-minute period during the school day without a valid excuse

on three occasions in a single school year.

Consequences can range from requiring the student to attend makeup classes to paying fines and ultimately to being jailed if the truancy persists.

Stanley Middle School Principal Betsy Balmat said the school’s attendance policy has not changed amid the coronavirus pandemic even though students now attend classes online from home and aren’t supposed to be in their school’s classrooms.

If a student has unverified absences, the school will make up to three automatic calls to the parent or guardian to let them know their child missed class, Balmat said.

“If we have not heard back after three of those, we send a letter,” the principal added.

What has changed under a recent state law intended to reflect the times is that teachers now must make sure students are actually participating and not just attending class, she said. Senate Bill 98 was approved in conjunction with the $202 billion budget that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in July.

The new law aims for more accountability in distance instruction and requires teachers to interact live with students every day, whether online, by phone or both. Teachers also must communicate regularly with parents about their child’s progress in class.

Mastrov said his family does not recall receiving any automatic phone calls from Stanley Middle School before the letter arrived.

His son is the fourth child in the family to attend the campus on School Street, but this is a first for them.

The bigger issue, he said, is labeling a kid who has missed 90 minutes of instruction over a school year as a truant and the potentially harsh penalties that can result.

Mastrov has written to state elected officials, asking for the truancy law to be changed.

“Who passed this law in their infinite wisdom?” he said. “Who in their right mind could do that?”