Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Second Truancy Sweep Nets 71 Students

The Antelope Valley’s second truancy sweep in less than a month rounded up 71 students on Wednesday, primarily teen-agers who skipped classes at two local high schools.

On Oct. 6, sheriff’s deputies and probation officers conducted a similar sweep, rounding up 87 truants.

Billy Pricer, president of the Antelope Valley Union High School District, said he was disappointed that so many truants were picked up again on Wednesday.

“This is telling me that more of these (sweeps) are going to be necessary if the word is going to get out that we’re quite serious about this truancy problem,” Pricer said.

Pricer, a retired sheriff’s deputy, runs the nonprofit United Community Action Network (UCAN), which provides counseling to troubled teen-agers. During both sweeps, the truants were taken to the UCAN offices in Palmdale, where they listened to motivational lectures while waiting for their parents or guardians to pick them up.

Usually, only two or three truancy sweeps are conducted during a school year. School officials suspect that some teen-agers believed they were safe to skip school this soon after the Oct. 9 sweep.

During Wednesday’s sweep, most of the truants were found loitering near school campuses or outside convenience markets, authorities said.

One was a junior high school student from Lancaster, while another was a 13-year-old boy who did not seem to be registered in any school, Pricer said.

Most of the remaining youngsters were from Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster or Palmdale High School. One youngster had a drug pipe, a small quantity of marijuana and a pocket knife that cannot be carried during school hours, Pricer said. That youth faces an expulsion hearing.

School officials say they are trying to curtail truancy because it contributes to crime problems and reduces the state funding each school receives.

Darrell Havens, principal at Palmdale High School, said truancy sweeps are an effective deterrent.

“I’m sure that the kids who are picked up spread the word to the kids they associate with,” he said. “I’m sure the parents are getting the word out to their students that they belong in school--and not out roaming in the community.”

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