Rockford city and school leaders have been united in an effort to keep kids from skipping school. But that partnership is on shaky ground, after some sharp words tossed back and forth over the last two days.
Under Rockford's truancy ordinance, kids found skipping school are cited and sent to truancy court and counseling. When the law kicked in last school year skipping dipped sharply. But now the numbers are on the rise, and so are tensions between city and school leaders.
"The school board needs to be held accountable. They're always looking and blaming the blame on someone else besides themself," Rockford Alderman Ann Thompson-Kelly said at Monday night's city council meeting.
"I really am offended by that remark," responds Rockford School Board President Nancy Kalchbrenner. "We continue to work hard in finding not only immediate ways of addressing those situations, but working on the bigger picture."
At Monday night's city council meeting, Mayor Larry Morrissey said the district is not referring enough truants to the city for citation.
"With some 7,000 truant kids this year, we get a couple hundred referrals from the school district?" says Morrissey.
Morrissey wants school attendance records to be referred directly to the city. But the district's legal council says that would violate privacy laws.
Morrissey also wants police officers stationed in the schools to start citing kids who are on school grounds but not in the classroom.
"There's definitely lots of kids running around the halls and then they distract the classes that are trying to be in session," says Luise Walter, an Auburn High School Junior.
Again the district objects, saying state and federal statute do not define a student as truant, unless they're off school grounds entirely and that citing kids in school could cost the district legal repercussions as well as state and federal funding.
In a statement Superintendent Linda Hernandez said, "Besides the practical financial aspect, the Board of Education does not believe that it should simply ignore state and federal law, regardless of what the Mayor may believe."
Morrisey said Monday night, "What we've told them is hey, if you think we're violating the law, sue us, because we're going to enforce it."
The school board president said Tuesday the board has not discussed the issue of taking legal action against the city. She adds the district is using programs like the new Freshman Foundations to keep kids engaged and in school.
Also in Hernandez's statement she said everyone needs to step up to the plate, including city leaders, adding, "The school district would urge the City to address the rampant, violence, gangs and drug problems which persist in large sections of our community. Eradication of those problems... would go a long way in relieving the truancy problem."
Morrissey did not make any more comments on Tuesday.