EDITORIALS:Daytime curfew not best way to solve schools’ truancy problem

It’s hard to argue with the impulse to give police another tool to battle gangs and to make sure kids don’t ditch school.

But many residents are objecting to the proposed daytime curfew in Costa Mesa.

Why? Well, some see it as a constitutional issue. Will a daytime curfew infringe on the 4th Amendment protections against illegal search and seizure?

Others see it as yet another racially charged issue and envision the police harassing Latino youths while ignoring the white kids skipping school.

It doesn’t appear as if school and police officials are buying those arguments. We’re not sure we do either — yet.

While we understand the wisdom of making sure kids stay in school and giving police more authority to hassle law-breakers, we’re concerned that more people will be greatly inconvenienced or, worse, the city will face civil rights lawsuits.

And what’s the point of wasting tax dollars in a courtroom when there are already rules and resources available to make sure kids are in school when they’re supposed to be?

A better question to ask is this: How is it that there are, on average, 222 kids skipping school every day in the Newport-Mesa Unified school district?

Are we doing enough to hold their parents accountable? After all, isn’t this really the job of school officials and parents?

Truancy should be a really low priority for the police and among the highest priorities for parents and educators.

There are better ways to battle gangs, such as court injunctions. Wouldn’t you rather see the city’s lawyers in court getting an injunction against organized crime instead of fending off civil rights lawsuits?

We know we would. Instead of creating more laws on the books, let’s determine if a daytime curfew is really needed and if it is, it should be well thought out before it is implemented.