By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE — The St. John Council on Tuesday approved a measure that is designed to make it more difficult for minors in St. John Parish to skip school and not get caught.

With no discussion, the council voted unanimously to make it unlawful for area merchants to knowingly permit school-age children to remain in their stores during times when the child should otherwise be attending school. The revision adds stiffer language to the previous ordinance, which only made it illegal for minors to loiter without parental supervision after the parish’s curfew.

“It gives us more grounds to enforce the law during the time of day that children should be in school,” said District 6 Councilman Ronnie Smith, who proposed the ordinance. “It puts more eyes in the field and gives more authority to store employees to report truancy.”

The ordinance applies to businesses in the parish that are places of amusement, entertainment or refreshment. It will allow storeowners and employees to alert the authorities when a school age child is loitering during school hours without parental accompaniment.

According to officials from the St. John School Board, the school system has dealt with 22 cases of truancy since school started in August. Smith, a truancy officer with the school board, said higher truancy rates can contribute to a higher dropout rate as well as a higher crime rate.

“My goal is that this new law might make school-aged children more apt to go to classes if they know they can’t hang out and get served at area businesses,” Smith said. “It should also encourage more business owners to report truancy within the parish.

Smith said he plans to design posters for store fronts that specify the new laws and state that children without their parents will not be allowed to loiter during school hours.