Truancy Ordinance - Updated Videos 8-6-09

Video of the discussion at the July 20, 2009 council meeting will be added this afternoon.

I understand that the ordinance mirrors what the county already has in place. I also understand that truancy may be a growing problem in Columbia. I have not seen the actual ordinance to comment on its specifics but the idea behind it makes perfect sense to me and I agree it needed to be in place for the upcoming school year.

I would have liked to see this at least be discussed before it was brought to be approved at a regular session council meeting. It could have been brought up in any number of committees or merely talked about by Tom Adams or Chief Edwards at a council meeting as something they were working on. To have Tom and Joe working on an ordinance since March with really no discussion with the council seems odd in my mind.

I would expect any department or city official working on an ordinance for around four months to come to the council at least once for input, questions, or discussions. Do I think Joe or Tom are overstepping their bounds, no I simply think some time should have been devoted to the issue before it being brought forward to a vote with no previous discussion.

I will post the actual ordinance here once I receive a copy via my FOIA request I filed with the city last week Tuesday. I was notified last night they wanted to get me a signed copy of the ordinance, I should have it sometime today.

Link to Ordinance I received 7/29/09







I apologize to everyone for not getting all three videos up in the original posting. I would also like to note that an article by Kevin Darr which shows support form Superintendent Settles on the Truancy Ordinance.

I wrote the above article based on the discussion that took place at the council meeting on July, 20 in which few details of the ordinance were discussed. After review I see this ordinance as a positive thing to have in place. I still support my previous statements that serious topics such as this should receive as much time in a committee meeting as lesser subjects.