Kamala Harris Fact-Check

Myth: Kamala Harris locked up parents of truant children

Facts: False

Background: Kamala Harris became District Attorney for San Francisco in 2004 and in her book “The Truths We Hold” recalls the meetings with mothers who had lost sons to violence.

To start why does truancy even matter? Why did Harris focus on it?

For the purposes of this, truancy is defined as habitual and significant uneducated absenses; in some cases Harris’ office saw elementary and middle schoolers were missing 80 or 90 days of school.

Students who are truant are more likely to experience or develop;

- Substance abuse
- Early pregnancy
- Social isolation
- Developmental issues
- Gang involvement

Truancy early on is one of the first steps on the school-to-prison pipeline.

https://psychweb.chbs.jmu.edu/Graysojh/pdfs/Volume084.pdf

School, particularly in socioeconomically distressed communities, may be a student’s major or sole access to nutrition, mental and physical healthcare, and social services.

Ensuring that kids, especially young ones, are in school is essential.

The city’s homicide rate with skyrocketing and upon reviewing the data Harris’ office found that 94% of homocide victims under the age of 25 were high school drop outs and truancy was one of the fastest paths to dropping out.

https://sfgov.org/juvprobation//sites/default/files/Documents/juvprobation/July_2011_Final_VPI_LAP.pdf

In 2006 Kamala Harris put together a program to reduce truancy in the city’s schools that established a clear series of steps to connect parents with school district staff, provide services and support, and create accountability to keep kids in school.

The program had nearly a dozen steps between the first contact and any eventual punishment; Kamala Harris herself said the goal was not to prosecute parents, it was to get kids into school where they belong.

Despite claims the program jailed parents, Harris’ program only actively prosecuted three parents with a slap on the wrist and not a single parent faced jail time.

I what it did do was reduce truancy in San Francisco by 23%. https://checkyourfact.com/2019/03/04/fact-check-kamala-harris-jail-truancy/

As AG Harris supported a similar effort in California that would target truancy statewide despite the fact truancy was already criminalized in CA in 1977.

The statewide program outlined even more interventions before any threat of prosecution.

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ai/tr/ 

Parents would only be subject to prosecution if they purposefully refused to address the issue and/or take advantage of the resources offered by local districts.

Even after that they were still offered another chance through a deferred entry program. (See above source)

Unfortunately some DA’s did weaponize a law met to get kids into school under their own programs, which happened under the case of Cheere Peoples who was arrested in Orange County, CA under a program called GRIP. https://www.ocregister.com/2013/04/19/keeping-kids-in-school-out-of-gangs/

GRIP was actually created before the statewide law went into effect; it was a county program aimed at reducing gang violence with truancy prevention as one of its main elements but the approach was far harsher than Harris’.

https://popcenter.asu.edu/sites/default/files/library/awards/goldstein/2009/09-55.pdf

Cheere Peoples was arrested and imprisoned under a program in another county nearly 350 miles away, that she had no part in creating, and was in place before she was elected AG.

To blame Kamala Harris would required one to ignore every element and fact of the case.