It’s no big news that truancy is a problem in Poplar Bluff. It’s been going on for years, and different things have been done in attempt to stop it.

Now the city has a new idea. By enacting a curfew during school hours, the city hopes to discourage would-be skippers. This curfew is working well in other cities and has worked in the past for Poplar Bluff before it was abolished years ago.

Some of us might be opposed to this idea, some of us might not, but either way, it’s already been passed.

As of Nov. 7, this curfew went into effect. Students of public schools will not be allowed on the streets during school hours: roughly 8 am to 3 pm. There are several exceptions to law, though. First, this only affects students who are under 17. A student driving back and forth from work, a student with an emergency, or a student accompanied by a parent are all excused.

This law was not passed to attempt to have an effect on the students as much as the parents. It is aimed at parents who take a careless attitude towards whether their students are skipping school. Many children might pretend to be sick to fool their parents and then get up and about while their parents are at work.

This curfew essentially allows a police officer to stop anyone school-age on the street and ask a few questions, such as where a child lives, whether or not the student should be in school and who his parents are.

If an officer discovers that a child is being truant, the officer now has the right to escort the child home or to school until the child is released to his or her parent or principal.

Many parents do not like this law for several reasons: First, there are quite a few home-schooled children in Poplar Bluff. Some parents have voiced their concerns about allowing their children out during their recess. One mother was afraid to let her home schooled children play in their front yard with policemen pulling over and asking them questions.

Another couple, who live in Fairdealing, homeschool their daughter who sometimes drives to Poplar Bluff for lessons, then stops at Wal-Mart on the way home.

It is hard to predict whether this curfew will fix the truancy problem or not.