From the Harris County District Attorney:

Subject:  Attendance

Pasadena Independent School District
1515 Cherrybrook Lane
Pasadena, TX  77502

Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s):

Starting this Fall 2003, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, in cooperation with your child’s school, will start a new “Stay In School” program, which is designed to increase school attendance. What this means is that truancy cases will have an even greater priority than they have in the past.

Once your child has reached the legal limit of unexcused absences, a warning letter will be sent to your home and hand-delivered to your child in school. Within five days of receipt of this letter, you will be required to attend a conference, at your child’s school, to discuss your child’s truancy problem and attempt to rectify it before criminal charges are filed. If, however, your child continues to incur additional unexcused absences, the school will file a case in the Justice of the Peace court, where you and your child must appear in response to the charges. Further, a more comprehensive program will be implemented, where your child must not miss additional school days and must submit to a social service evaluation and, where applicable, follow-up on social service referrals. If your child deviates from the terms of the program then additional conditions will be added, such as attendance at a truancy camp and completion of community service hours. Non-compliance will ultimately lead to charges being filed against your child in a Harris County Juvenile District Court.

I hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to explain to your child the implications of this letter and to reinforce to him or her the incredible value of an education.

Charles A. Rosenthal, Jr. District Attorney for Harris County