This week, the City of Appleton passed a truancy ordinance that will fine students who miss excessive amounts of school.

Good. Northeast Wisconsin is fighting a fierce battle for the future of its youth community (story HERE).

The reason is that when children skip school, they’re hurting themselves in two ways. First, they’re obviously not receiving the education they’re going to need to be productive and healthy adults.

Second, they’re instead immersing themselves in the elements of a parents nightmare. They’re spending time with other people who don’t care about their futures, and worse, are willing to break the law for their reckless ways. Violence, theft, drugs, nothing is off the table for those that want to use the children for their own selfish and criminal intentions.

The term “failure factory” is thrown around in popular culture today. I can’t tell you from observing, the real failure factories of Appleton and Northeast Wisconsin, are the streets of our community or anywhere else that is a hiding place from a good education.

And also those same streets and enclaves in the late hour of the night, when kids should be home resting for the next day and instead are out putting themselves at risk.

Ultimately, it’s up to parents. For their kid’s 18th birthday, do they want a graduation portrait in a yearbook? Or a county jail mugshot?

And its the bad parents who are at the core of this problem.

And its their voices who are the loudest, when a community wants to make sure their kids are going to school. Or here in Green Bay, its the bad parents who wonder why school leaders want to take step to prevent a school shooting. Forget protecting a child’s future, our teachers and community leaders are “embarrassing” them.

Very rarely are there perfect solutions. But the key is for Appleton and every town in our area to keep working to make sure we’re giving the kids the best chance they can to succeed. We can get there together. We just have to keep trying.