Just what the world needs – more legislative study committees. At last count, there are 18 in the State Senate and 16 in the House of Representatives. According to Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and House Speaker Jon Burns, the purpose of these study committees is to hold public meetings, gather input and prepare findings and recommendations ahead of the 2026 legislative session.
Maybe so, but I’m guessing it has an additional purpose – to give the legislators an excuse to get out of town so they don’t have to answer a lot of questions from constituents about why they did what they did while in session. (“Ms. Bumgardner, I would love to sit and explain to you why I believe strip-mining the Okefenokee for toothpaste whitener is vital to our national security but I must get to Atlanta before the hotel bar, I mean the Aquarium, closes. I can’t wait to see those adorable little penguins.”)
Among the committees established are the House Study Committee on the Costs & Effects of Smoking. (I assume they will come to the conclusion that smoking is bad for your health.); House Study Committee on Gaming in Georgia (Goal: What are the odds we can sneak casinos by the Baptist?); Senate Study Committee on Intoxicating Cannabinoids in Consumable Hemp Products. (Likely conclusion: A friend with bad weed is no friend indeed.)
Which gets me around to the Senate Study Committee on Combating Chronic Absenteeism in Schools. Sen. John F. Kennedy, R-Macon, will chair this study committee. As a public service, I thought I might get right to the bottom line so the committee can spend their time enjoying the penguins at the aquarium.
The answer to chronic absenteeism as with most any other problem is our schools is spelled parent. P-A-R-E-N-T. The buck stops there. If a parent want to see his or her kids get a good education, they will. If they demand their kids go to class, they will. If they expect their kids to do their homework, they will. On the other hand, if they don’t care if their little urchin makes it to school, it is pretty likely their children won’t. End of story.
I have a feeling that Sen. Kennedy’s study committee will skirt that obvious fact and come up with some sociological psychobabble intended to prove the state needs to allot more tax dollars for private school vouchers, since private schools don’t seem to have these problems. If a parent is paying $10,000 or more a year for private school tuition – which vouchers don’t come close to covering, by the way –said parent is likely to be very involved in their child’s academic progress and “chronic absenteeism” will be a non-issue.
Wouldn’t it be neat if the Senate Study Committee on Combating Chronic Absenteeism in Schools recommended to the Legislature that parents be held accountable for their children’s behavior? Two parents in Michigan are currently in prison and hopefully one in Georgia soon will be for enabling their child to take a loaded gun to school and shoot and kill students and teachers.
Why not also hold them accountable for seeing that their kids show up for school? If Junior missed a week, have the sheriff’s office give them a visit and a warning letter? If the kid continues to skip school, present the parent a second, and final, warning.
If none of the above works, then haul their fannies to court, fine them or let them cool their heels for awhile in the county pokey. I have a feeling that would go a long way toward solving the problem of chronic absenteeism. Then legislators could go back home and explain to voters why there seems to be no other place on God’s Green Earth to get toothpaste whitener but from our beloved Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. It seems I have to think of everything.
Of course, this isn’t going to happen. It is too simple and too logical. Hold parents responsible for their child’s behavior? You’ve got to be kidding. After three thugs jumped a teacher at Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Dekalb County and were charged with battery, Dekalb school superintendent Dr. Devon Horton said he did not support them being “criminalized” and that “The days — those golden days of where you tell the student to sit down and they sit down, that’s not the case anymore.” Say what?
When did that happen? It happened when parents quit being parents. Write that down, study committee.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139
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