Appleton Common Council’s Safety and Licensing Committee delayed voting Sept. 10 on a proposed truancy ordinance for another two weeks, until Sept. 24.
While the truancy ordinance was on the committee agenda as an action item, council member Chris Croatt said from the start he favored holding the vote later.
Two hours of debate followed over what truancy enforcement could look like in Appleton. Several members of the council, including committee member and council president Katie Van Zeeland, still had questions about what oversight the Common Council could exercise over the Appleton Area School District and how far truancy enforcement would go.
In some ways, their questions echoed concerns the community has shared since the resolution was introduced back in March: what measures law enforcement could take, what dispositions would be available to the court and how far the district would go in using the citation to punish students.
Representatives of the Appleton Area School District, including superintendent Greg Hartjes and attendance coordinators Stephanie Marta and Stacey Nitka, continued to state that a truancy enforcement is “a last resort” for about 30 to 40 students that refused to engage with the district.
Meanwhile, council member Sheri Hartzheim introduced an amendment to the resolution that would require AASD to report on results from the truancy ordinance to the committee. Another council member, Brad Firkus, added an amendment that outlined specific reporting requirements and possible punishments the courts could use to enforce truancy laws.
Public comments during the committee meeting were divided.
Appleton resident Michelle Pauli opposed it, saying she saw the measure as “a step backwards” and was concerned about marginalized students the ordinance would affect. Another resident who was involved with abolishing the original truancy ordinance, Ronna Swift, praised AASD for putting more attendance support in place for students but was opposed using fines to enforce truancy.
Others, such as former Common Council member William Siebers, supported bringing back the ordinance. Siebers said, “To establish these important relationships (between teacher and student), we need to have these students in school.”
Last March, Hartjes asked the Common Council to pass an ordinance that would enforce Wisconsin truancy law in Appleton. A previous enforcement ordinance was abolished within Appleton in 2019. A resolution to reinstate the ordinance, introduced by Siebers, has been lingering on the Safety and Licensing Committee agenda since it was introduced.
According to data from the Department of Public Instruction, Appleton-area high school students were chronically absent in 2023-24 at almost twice the rate they were pre-pandemic: 13% in 2019-20, and 25% in 2023-24.
(This story was updated because an earlier version contained an inaccuracy.)
Rebecca Loroff is an education reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. She welcomes story tips and feedback. Contact her at rloroff@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton truancy ordinance tabled for two more weeks. Here’s why, what to know
Reporting by Rebecca Loroff, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
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