Truancy court cases involve minors from 7th – 12th grade. Truancy cases are filed by Probation when a minor is habitually truant.
A minor is considered truant when they have developed a pattern of being absent three or more days at a time without a valid excuse or are repeatedly more than 30 minutes late to three or more school periods a day.
The matter is referred to the Juvenile Court after the school has exhausted their attempts to meet with the student and his/her parent or guardian to correct the behavior. A police officer may also cite the minor to appear before the judge. These cases are heard in Fairfield on the first and third Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
When a minor kindergarten through twelfth grade is habitually truant, the parent is cited to appear by their local police agency and the citation is forwarded to the District Attorney for review. When the District Attorney determines that a Petition should be filed, it is filed and placed on the calendar by the Traffic Division. Cases cited out of Fairfield, Suisun, Vacaville, Dixon and Rio Vista (North County) are heard in Fairfield on the second and fourth Thursday of each month at 2:00 p.m. Cases cited out of Vallejo and Benicia (South County) are heard in Vallejo on the first Tuesday of each month at 3:00 p.m.