School Bounty Hunters Are Hot on Truants’ Trail

BROWNSVILLE, Ore. —  Kyle Lynde knew he shouldn’t have been hanging out, not with a price on his head for skipping school.

It didn’t take long for Central Linn High School’s bounty hunters to spot him and send the 18-year-old back to class.

“If I could have gotten away, I probably would have,” Lynde said glumly. “There really was no way out.”

For each student returned to class, Donna Bronson, 39, and Marie Ekenberg, 48, are paid $300; monitoring the student’s progress is worth another $200 to the team and a diploma means a $500 bonus.

There are no guns, handcuffs or violence involved--just a written agreement with each student that lets them know they are being watched.

“I love doing this,” Bronson said. “I consider it a privilege spending time with these young people. If we didn’t approach them, probably no one else would have.”

State educators say the district 80 miles south of Portland is the only one in Oregon that uses a bounty system for truants. Its 3.5% dropout rate is half the state average.

Since the women started prowling the district in March, they have earned a reputation for relentlessness, stirring students from bed, tutoring at least one in jail and sticking up for them in court.

“When they are not where they say they are supposed to be, we know who their friends are, and we go get them,” said Bronson, a high school dropout.

The women serve 40 students, including one of Bronson’s sons and Ekenberg’s daughter. At least four of their students have graduated or earned a general equivalency diploma.

“They are wounded people,” Bronson said. “It is a great, great gift that they trust us.”