ANTI-TRUANCY PROGRAM BACK IN GEAR : JOINT EFFORT BOOSTS SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.

Byline: Jaxon Van Derbeken and Terri Hardy Daily News Staff Writers

As the school year gets under way, so will an anti-truancy program that school and Los Angeles police officials credit with increasing attendance rates while cutting crime.

The program, which began last October with police citing truants and hauling them back to class, is believed to have helped the L.A. Unified School District recoup an estimated $20 million in state funding calculated on average daily attendance.

``This program has absolutely had an impact getting our kids back in schools,'' said Superintendent Sid Thompson.

LAPD Juvenile Division Detective Ben Gonzalez, who recently evaluated the effectiveness of the LAPD program, said he is fielding calls from other districts and municipalities.

``Cities from throughout the United States are calling me about the program, and when I tell them what the results are, they say they want to do the same thing,'' Gonzalez said.

In a six-month evaluation period stretching from October to March, police on routine patrols and special truancy sweeps had issued 5,878 truancy citations citywide, said Gonzalez.

During that same period, daytime reports of shoplifting decreased by 18 percent, burglary from vehicles fell 12 percent, and vehicle thefts dropped nearly 12 percent, Gonzalez said.

``You take kids off the streets during school hours and you have a crime reduction, period,'' Gonzalez said. ``Kids who are not in school are doing a myriad of things. Not all of them are legal.''

In May 1995, the Los Angeles City Council passed an ordinance making it an infraction for a juvenile to be out of school without an excuse between 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on weekdays.

A task force of officials from the city, schools and police agreed on three penalty options.The youngster must complete 60 truancy-free days of school attendance; or put in 20 hours of community service; or pay a fine up to $250 and a $425 penalty assessment.

In the San Fernando Valley, the truancy program has had tremendous results, said Yvonne Davis, cluster leader for schools in the East Valley area.

``We're focusing on attendance as a district, when the police have a similar move, a truancy sweep, that emphasizes our effort,'' Davis said. ``Our attendance went up in every single school.''

At Van Nuys High School, for example, attendance was up 2.22 percent during the previous academic year.

``The message is the students were literally, bodily brought back to the schools,'' she said.

``Parents were contacted and students were released to the parents. I think that makes a big impact on the student that there are so many adults on one united effort.''

Gonzalez said making truancy a priority has led to a districtwide jump of nearly 2.4 percent in middle school attendance and 2.9 percent in the high schools.

While the goal of the program is to get youngsters back in school, the district also gets financial spinoff benefits because funding is calculated based on a school's average daily attendance.

``My hope is the number of citations would go down, which would be keeping kids in school, and that is our goal,'' Gonzalez said.

In a letter to Councilwoman Laura Chick, Police Chief Willie L. Williams cited the benefits of the program in leading to a decline in juvenile arrests.

Williams noted that in the six months of the program last school year, ``the most common juvenile arrests decreased by 8.2 percent.''

While juvenile arrests for burglary went up 5.5 percent, arrests for burglaries from vehicles dropped 52 percent, arrests for shoplifting and petty theft dropped 7.3 percent and stolen vehicle arrests dropped 14.4 percent.

``The truancy enforcement effort has been successful,'' Williams said.