NOME -- A Wales man was sentenced to 15 days in jail for allowing his son to repeatedly skip school, making this the first case in the region to send a parent to prison in a truancy case.
Mike Ahkinga Sr., 46, pleaded guilty to one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, aiding or encouraging his child to be absent from school without just cause. Four counts of the same charges were dismissed.
According to court papers, Ahkinga's 11-year-old son was absent 54 days during the first half of the 2010-2011 school year and the previous years also showed gaping holes in the student's attendance record.
The student was absent 27 days and present 58 days in the 2008-09 school year. In the 2009-10 school year he skipped 13.5 school days.
In April of this year, Alaska State Troopers were asked to check on the situation. Ahkinga told Trooper Aileen Witrosky that the child was sick and that he suspected something had happened at school, but that the child wouldn't talk to him about it.
According to the charging papers, the Wales school has set up a plan that included a provision that Ahkinga would shadow his son to school.
Ahkinga followed through with the plan for only a couple of days and then stopped shadowing his son, according to Troopers.
"Coming to school everyday isn't my style," the father responded when the trooper asked him why he didn't take his son to school anymore. The father added that he had tried everything with his son, but that the child still refused to go to school.
Ahkinga pleaded guilty and Judge Ben Esch sentenced him last week to 15 days in prison, starting Nov. 1.
"This is the first one to go to jail over this," said District Attorney John Earthman, "and I'm sorry to say this, but he won't be the last one."
Earthman added that while there are a lot more similar cases on his desk, not all would end up putting a parent in jail.
"We prosecute the worst of the worst cases, when everything else has failed," said Earthman. He said he prefers a less intrusive way, when parents and the school district can come up with a solution outside of court.
But if nothing works, and the parents have laid out all their excuses, and nothing changes, then he will prosecute.
"I don't think it's out of line for parents who blow off their kids' education to go to jail," he said.
Earthman said he remembered a case a few years ago when a child was actually removed from her home because her parents didn't send her to school. The child was taken into Office of Child Services' custody and placed in a home in a different village, where she then attended school.
Bering Strait School District Superintendent Rob Picou gave a statement to The Nome Nugget, saying, "We are obviously saddened when any of our parents go to jail for any reason; however, we are equally saddened when kids don't come to school often enough to learn what they will need in order to be successful later and then graduate from high school."
Picou said the school district is working with the parents from the first sign of trouble. "We notify parents every step of the way," he wrote in an email to The Nome Nugget.
The school calls after every unexcused absence and after five unexcused absences, the parents receive a letter in the mail, encouraging better attendance and also warning them of possible legal action.
At that point parents can be cited and fined, if found guilty. After 10 unexcused absences and after school officials feel they have done everything they can to convince parents to improve their kids' attendance record, the district contacts the DA.
"We make every effort to remedy the situation before turning it over to the district attorney. it is only the most extreme cases that are turned over to the legal system," Picou wrote.
Nome District Attorney Earthman said that there are more cases pending and that the DA's office in Nome has worked for years on a system on how to go about prosecuting truancy cases.
"These cases are competing with about 800 to 900 criminal cases a year, cases that involve violent crimes like assault, domestic violence, homicide," Earthman said.
With resources stretched thin, truancy cases don't often rise to the top of the pile. However, Earthman added that Kotzebue now has two new district attorneys, who are also positioned to take on truancy cases in their area.
All villages in the BSSD have parent liaison officers who call parents when pupils are not showing up at school. The Anthony Andrews School in St. Michael has a paid truancy enforcement officer, said Carl White, special assistant to the BSSD superintendent's special projects.
White is helping principals in the BSSD to enforce the state's truancy law. He reviews the documentation in truancy cases and submits the paperwork to the DA.
White also stressed that it is the parents' responsibility to get their children to school and make sure they are well-rested and, if problems arise, to take advantage of free tutoring. "For students to be successful, they need parents and teachers to work together," White said.
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By DIANA HAECKER
The Nome Nugget