Fountain woman faces truancy charges.

Fountain woman faces truancy charges.

SCOTTVILLE — The Scottville Police Department has obtained an arrest warrant for a 31-year-old Fountain woman on the charge of truancy. According to Scottville Police Chief Matt Murphy, the woman’s child has accumulated 23 unexcused absences from Mason County Central Schools.

Under Michigan law, truancy is defined as a child who has 10 or more unexcused absences per school year. A pupil may be considered truant only once in a particular school year. Chronically absent is defined as a child who is absent for 10 percent or more of the scheduled school days in a school year. Michigan law also requires a parent or legal guardian of a child from the age of 6 to 16 to send his or her child to school during the entire school year, except under certain limited circumstances.

Truancy is typically a matter that is addressed in juvenile court, which is handled by the probate judge. 

“Scottville Police Department takes the education of our youth very seriously and will continue to work with the schools to correct this issue,” Murphy said, adding that he is working on multiple truancy cases.