APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV) – The Appleton Area School District (AASD) and local officials have gone back and forth for months concerning a truancy ordinance.
On Wednesday night, those discussions continued, as officials met to discuss further on reinstating the ordinance after about 29.1% of high school students were ‘chronically absent’ in 2024-25.
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During the meeting, the Safety and Licensing Committee voted to recommend approval of the amended ordinance, which will now head to the Common Council for a final vote.
If the Common Council votes for it, then it would reinstate the truancy ordinance, which was amended recently by the Appleton Area School District.
The AASD provided revisions to an amendment proposed in the September 10 meeting, which are available in the file viewer below.
The following file is also an addition that the AASD Board of Education tentatively approved on Monday.
District officials define chronic absences as missing about 10% of the school days during an academic year. About 33.8% of high schoolers could be considered habitually truant in the last semester, defined as missing some, if not all, of 5+ school days in a semester without an excuse.
The truancy ordinance in question would allow local judges to impose specific mandates that are intended to get students back in school.
Local 5 will update this story as more details arise.
