What’s The Juvenile Court To Do With Truants. . . .Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?

A 15-year-old is a habitual truant; he missed 255 school periods without a valid reason. He was declared a ward of the juvenile court. The court directed him to reside in the home of his parents, attend school daily, comply with a 6:00 p.m. curfew and not stay away from home overnight without permission of probation officer. Several weeks later, at a progress hearing, the probation officer reported the boy failed to attend school or abide by the curfew. The court ordered the boy attend Weekend Training Academy [WETA] three times. WETA is an alternative to detention and provides community service opportunities and social values training. He attended only one WETA meeting, continued to violate curfew, continued to miss school and left the state without permission. The boy’s lawyer informed the juvenile court it had no authority to incarcerate him. The juvenile court ordered the boy to juvenile hall for a weekend, and an appeal was taken from that order. The appellate court annulled the order because the juvenile court did not comply with statutory contempt procedures set forth in Code of Civil Procedure sections 1209-1222. (In re M.R. (Cal. App. First Dist., Div. 3; September 27, 2013) 220 Cal.App.4th 49.)