A state program that allows school districts to revoke the driver's licenses of frequently absent students has not seen much use locally.
Under an Ohio Department of Education code ' which has been adopted by several Southeastern Ohio school districts ' students with 10 consecutive unexcused absences or 15 total absences can have their driver's licenses revoked by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, said Rick Dickinson, general counsel for the Ohio State Board of Education.
In 2004, 1,300 students in Ohio had their driving privileges taken away by the state of Ohio, said Fred Stratmann, spokesperson for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
That number constitutes 2.28 percent of Ohio's 57,000 high school drivers, he said.
Locally, Alexander School District is the only district to actually have revoked students' licenses, though most other districts retain that option.
Alexander School District has used the code only twice. It was used once for poor attendance and once for possession of drugs and alcohol, superintendent Robert Bray said.
Though Trimble Local School District has no record of ever revoking licenses, superintendent Cindy Johnston said the rule gives her leverage against students who do not want to go to school.
The Ohio Department of Education offers the option of adopting this rule to its 613 school districts but does not mandate its use because each district knows whether the rule will be effective in its schools, said JC Benton, public information officer for the Ohio Department of Education.
Legally, all children under the age of 18 are required to attend school, but that is not an incentive for some students. The loss of a driver's license or permit is much more important to some students, Dickinson said.
Federal Hocking High School has not revoked any student's license, but it has refused students the right to park in the school lots. That is inconvenient for the students because there are very few parking lots near the school, vice principal John Wryst said.
Athens School District has never revoked a student's license, though it has the code in place. Most students are sent to juvenile court before the situation becomes serious enough to revoke privileges, principal Mike Meek said.
Nelsonville School District elected not to adopt the rule, secretary Diana Mayles said, adding that she was unfamiliar with the specific policy.
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Jessie Balmert
Local schools do not usually revoke student driverG
