Q: Am I required to make my child go to school?

A: Parents who allow their children to miss more than 12 days without an excuse could face fines and possible jail time. “Though rare, it can happen,” said Keith Robinson, a school attendance officer in Lincoln County.

Under the Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law, parents and guardians are required to enroll their children in a public or private school. This law applies to children who are between the ages of 6 and 17 by Sept. 1.

Children who will be 5 years old on or before Sept. 1 and have enrolled in a full-day public kindergarten will also be under the Compulsory School Attendance Law, he said.

Parents who homeschool their children are required to complete a certificate of enrollment card every year.

Missing school is serious business.

Any parent or guardian who fails to comply with the compulsory school attendance laws may be found guilty of contributing to the neglect of a child and my face criminal charges, Robinson said.

Robinson is one of two attendance officers in Lincoln County. He and Lamareo Brown work for the Mississippi Department of Education. They share office space at Mamie Martin Elementary.

Robinson’s been doing this job for 20 years — 16 in Pike County and the last four in Lincoln County. He said there is at least one attendance officer in every county.

“Truancy is a nationwide problem. Drop out rates are high,” he said. “It’s definitely a problem.”

He said a lot of students stop going to school because of poor grades. “They give up,” he said. “They get behind and they just give up. We deal with that year after year.”

Robinson said schools are required to turn in the names of kids who have five unexcused absences. That prompts a phone call from Robinson or Brown, then a follow-up letter. More absences warrant a home visit. “We’re trying to find out why the kids are out,” he said.

There are all kinds of excuses and Robinson has heard them all, he said.

After a child has accumulated a dozen unexcused absences, the attendance officers are required by law to file a petition. That means court for the parents.

City and county schools started earlier this month, but Robinson said his office is investigating a few cases because students’ have already missed more than five days. “There’s just a few, but we do have some,” he said.