The City Council finds, determines, and declares that this chapter has been enacted based upon the following facts and purposes:
(A) School absenteeism is a problem that plagues our schools and creates a burden for all communities throughout the city.
(B) Students who are absent from school without valid excuses are denied an education.
(C) The unexcused absence of students from school results in the loss of state and federal funding to the detriment of all students.
(D) Unsupervised students involve themselves in unsafe activities by being in residential neighborhoods, business districts, and malls during the time when they are required to be in school.
(E) Unsupervised students engage in criminal activity to the detriment of the community, such as residential burglaries, auto thefts, bicycle thefts, vandalism, and other visible signs of disorder.
(F) Unsupervised students become a burden on police, who must return them to school, wait for parents to pick them up, and investigate any and all criminal activity related to a student's absenteeism.
(G) The city of Corona has a compelling interest in protecting the public from juveniles committing crimes, increasing the exercise of parental responsibility for the city's children, in reducing the opportunities for juvenile crime, and in improving school attendance. Over the past five years the city of Corona has experienced a direct correlation between school attendance and daytime juvenile crime. When school attendance increases, daytime juvenile crime decreases. Conversely, a drop in school attendance correlates to an increase in juvenile crime during school hours.
(H) It is, therefore, the intent of the City Council in enacting this chapter to prohibit any minor under the age of eighteen, who is subject to compulsory education or compulsory continuation education, subject to specific expectations related herein, from being in or upon the public streets, highways, roads, alleys, parks, playgrounds, or other public grounds during the period of the day when the minor is required to be in school, subject to the exceptions and terms of this chapter.
(I) It is further the intent of the City Council to provide appropriate criminal sanctions against any minor who violates this chapter by making a violation of this chapter an infraction.
(J) It is the intent of the City Council to allow minors under the age of 18 to move about freely while participating in legitimate activities, and to pursue legitimate activities during the day with the permission of his or her parent, guardian, or other adult person having the lawful care and custody of the minor.
( Ord. 2745 § 1, 2005; Ord. 2589 § 1, 2002.)