MORENO VALLEY: Valentine’s Day truancy sweep nets 19

MORENO VALLEY — Nineteen students who chose today to skip school were unpleasantly surprised when they were caught up in a surprise Valentine’s Day truancy sweep.

The violators were each issued a citation to appear in court and taken to their schools where disciplinary proceedings were begun.

Working with the Moreno Valley Unified School District, deputies assigned to the Moreno Valley Police Station’s School Resource Unit conducted Wednesday’s “city-wide, daytime curfew enforcement,” Riverside Sheriff’s Sergeant Craig Roberts later explained. The successful operation begun this morning at 8 a.m. and continued until 12:30 p.m.

During the course of the enforcement the SRO’s fanned out across the city searching for students who either failed to report to their campuses at the beginning of the school day or left their campuses without permission while school was still in session.

“The goal of this program was to take a pro-active approach toward student daytime curfew/truant violations and emphasize the importance of school attendance and how it correlates with student success in the future,” Roberts explained. “The youth in the community need to be aware that school attendance is important and they need to be in school.”

Roberts pointed out that parents and/or guardians of students who have been reported as truant three or more times within a school year can be charged with a misdemeanor.

Although no parents or guardians were arrested during today’s sweep, Roberts made sure to express that the SRO’s efforts to quell truancy will continue, saying, “Future operations of this type are planned.”

 

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Trevor Montgomery, who recently moved from Riverside County to Shasta County, runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for Riverside County based newspapers Valley News, The Valley Chronicle and Anza Valley Outlook as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident.

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center and Lake Elsinore Station, along with other locations.