- April 23, 2024
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A truancy case that garnered some local attention came to a simple agreement on Thursday: Andre Darby’s son must attend school.
To Darby, that won’t be hard; his son has had perfect attendance since January, he said. Prior to that, he was homeschooling his child. Charges were filed against Darby in October for failing to have his child attend school.
The charging affidavit, filed Oct. 5, said Darby’s son had not attended school since August.
“Mr. Darby was sent several notices to attend student assessments meetings and has not shown,” the affidavit says.
Darby said the charges filed against him were unfair because his son was regularly taking — and passing — annual evaluation tests for homeschooled students. He said nobody from the school district ever said he couldn't homeschool his son, who is currently in fourth grade.
“He was excelling in homeschool; the only reason we decided to put him back in school in January was for the socialization,” Darby said moments after Circuit Judge J. David Walsh accepted his case’s deferred prosecution agreement.
Under the agreement, the charge against Darby will eventually be dismissed if his son continues to attend school. Darby’s attorney, Sharon Feliciano, said she hopes to have the charge dismissed as early as May if the child in question continues his perfect attendance record. Otherwise, the charge will be dismissed in 12 months.
Darby did not admit guilt in the deferred prosecution agreement, a deviation from standard practices for such agreements.
“I think my discussions with the state were effective enough for them to understand that Mr. Darby was not going to plead guilty to anything,” Feliciano said.
Feliciano said she considered filing a motion to dismiss the case instead of coming to a deferred prosecuting agreement, but decided against it in fear that the state would then press charges against Darby’s wife.
“It’s important to know that (the school) had every opportunity before meeting with the State Attorney’s Office to file the charge to bring any problems to (Darby’s) attention,” Feliciano said, referencing meetings Darby said he had with Katrina Townsend, director of student services for Flagler schools, before the charges were filed.
“Ms. Townsend saw them quite frequently, and she never mentioned there was a problem with the boy not attending school,” Feliciano said.
Townsend is unable to discuss specific student cases with outside parties. However, she said the school district uses an automated system that sends letters to parents if a student accrues five or more unexcused absences in a month. The same happens if a student reaches 10 unexcused absences in a 90-day period. An invitation for a student success team meeting is extended, during which school staff members help find ways to increase student attendance.
Similar charges were filed against Darby in December in relation to his two other children. According to a charging affidavit, the two high school students had missed more than 18 days of school since the start of the school year.
“The students and their father have been notified by Flagler County School administrator via mail and phone calls that several meetings had been set for them to come in for counseling,” the affidavit says. “They failed to reply.”
The charges in that case were eventually dismissed.
State attorneys said they were satisfied with the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement and the eventual dismissal of the charges.
“Hopefully, I won’t have to see this case again,” Walsh said.
