Attorney General Kamala Harris visited East Oakland PRIDE Elementary to applaud the school for its work in reducing truancy, the Oakland Tribune reported.
Harris talked to a group of fifth-graders for about 10 minutes Thursday, during which time the attorney general was sure to highlight the issue of truancy, which she's been drawing attention to since she was San Francisco's district attorney.
A student is truant if he or she is absent more than 10 percent of the time, the newspaper reported. As much as 20 percent of Oakland students are truant in the city's poorer areas, like East Oakland.
PRIDE, by contrast, has truancy ratings of 6.5 percent, down from 14.8 percent in 2011-2012, the newspaper reported.
What's behind the change? Under Harris, parents can be punished if their children are truant. Schools are also working harder on providing information to parents on how important elementary school is, the newspaper reported.
