New device helps keep kids in school.

[CCTAU 3,494]

I think this is a good idea. BUT, the family should be charged for it and the kid should be required to attend a vocational school. The kid has already forfeited the right to attend with others when the kid decided that it wasn't for them. So in order not to put out another dumbass, teach them a vocation.

Can A Tracking Device Curb Truancy?

A New Program In Dallas Makes Truant Students Carry A GPS Device

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DALLAS, June 10, 2008

Joshua Cervantes wears a tracking device monitored by truant agents. (CBS)

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Truants Tracked By GPS

As part of a pilot program in Dallas, kids who skip classes are having to wear GPS devices that let their truant officers know where they are. Hari Sreenivasan reports. | Share/Embed

(CBS) It's 7 a.m. and Joshua Cervantes is getting ready for school.

He makes his bed, grabs his ID - and his GPS tracking device, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan.

At school, Joshua clicks his GPS. It sends a signal to a satellite and tells his truancy counselor that Josh is on time.

"Every 10 minutes it gives me a point on that individual," said Tom Urrutia, program manager of the monitoring system.

Josh is part of a pilot program at Bryan Adams High School in Dallas to stop truancy. Last year, out of 185 school days, he had 160 unexcused absences.

"So your parents dropped you off, and then you left?" Sreenivasan asked.

"Yeah," Joshua said. "Anywhere, I'd just go to a friend's house."

But for six weeks, a court ordered him to carry a tracking device, and made sure he was home by a 9 p.m. curfew.

Joshua didn't miss a single day of school.

"When they're in truancy, they're goin' down, we're losing them the longer they're gone," said Dr. Kyle Ross, an alternative education coordinator. "All of a sudden they get this device and it puts a stop right there."

Administrators say the monitoring device is doing more than just tracking. It gives kids a way to overcome the peer pressure to skip school.

"It's making me do what I want to, because I want to do this," Joshua said.

"We're accountable whether they show up or not, we're accountable for the graduation rate, the attendance," said Bryan Adams High School Principal Cynthia Goodsell. "If they're not here, we can't teach them and we're accountable for the coursework."

When kids don't attend school, districts lose money. Dallas has the highest dropout rate in Texas, and this school district loses $10 million every year in attendance revenue alone.

But dropouts cost society even more.

Three in 10 federal prisoners, four in 10 state prisoners and half of those in death row are dropouts.

"So I just decided I don't want that; I just wanted to change and get what I want," Joshua said.

What he wants is to graduate and work in the medical field, thanks to a small tracking device that got him back on track.

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[jared52 4,358]

"It's making me do what I want to, because I want to do this," Joshua said.

Bull hockey. If he wanted to go to school, he wouldn't need a GPS tracking device. I agree with you though, teach them a vocation and let them get a job. At least they will be productive and might actually decide that an associates management degree would be beneficial to their future. I'm all about giving these kids a chance, but education, as it's offered today, doesn't necessarily give some kids a chance purely based on that kid. I see a lot who simply think school is a waist of time and I think if they were given a chance to make a living and then see that it won't be enough to just have a vocational diploma, some might decide to get it right and finish their education, maybe even through college.