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Register of the Stockton (Calif.) School District Truancy & Absence Records, 1912-1917
Mss160
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Title: Stockton (Calif.) School District Truancy & Absence Records,
Date (inclusive): 1912-1917
Collection number: Mss160
Creator:
Extent: 0.3 linear ft.
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
Stockton, CA 95211
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language:
English.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Stockton (Calif.) School District Truancy & Absence Records,
Mss160, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific
Library
The public school system of Stockton (Calif.) was organized officially by an act of the
Common Council in the fall of 1852. Nearly fifty years later, Stockton voters approved
formation of a separate high school district encompassing an area larger than the
existing Stockton School District (1900). As a result of enabling legislation passed in
1935, the two systems were automatically unified in July 1936 creating the present
Stockton Unified School District.
The elementary school attendance officer, J. A. "Gus" Workings, (ca. 1863-1944) kept
written attendance and truancy records and also served as a custodian in the Stockton
schools for 27 years. Schools listed in Workings' records include: Franklin; Annex North
Stockton (later Woodrow Wilson); Jefferson; South; Jackson; Monroe; Lafayette; Washington
Grammar; El Dorado; Fremont; Fair Oaks; Lincoln; Weber Grammar; Hazelton; and
Pre-vocational (at Jefferson). Other schools mentioned include: Convent; Brothers;
McGowen Primary; Garretson and Banta Primary.
Ledger entries include: dates (from January 1912 through March 1917), name of student,
address, school, and cause of absence. A compendium of excuses--absences range from
childhood illnesses, truancy, illnesses of parents, accidents, toothaches, out for the
circus, has no shoes, gone to the City, and so on. Family names of ethnic and religious
groups can be sometimes ascertained from absences on special holidays. The collection
includes some additional notes tallying records and listing truancies.