Truancy is a growing problem, according to Tooele County School District officials and Tooele City police, but local business owners say it’s not a problem they see often.

Several Tooele and Grantsville convenience stores and restaurants say they don’t often see students coming in aside from during their lunch hour. Both Grantsville and Tooele high schools have open campus policies where students can venture off-campus between 10:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.

Dave Erikson, an employee at Vine Street Market located next to Tooele High School, said truancy isn’t a problem at the local convenience store despite its close proximity to the high school.

“I wouldn’t say that we have students here during school hours very often,” Erikson said. “There are maybe five students a week, around one a day, who are in here during school hours. They aren’t usually a problem so we don’t have a policy on sending them back to school.”

Most business owners say the sometimes see a rush of students once school lets out for the day, but rarely see students during school hours.

“There aren’t really any students in here during school hours,” said Jace Harris, an employee at Go-Fer Foods on Main Street in Tooele. “There aren’t even a whole lot during lunch hours. We don’t get a lot of students until after school.”

Across town at Cold Stone Creamery the story was much the same.

“We normally don’t see students during school hours,” said Traci Padgett, who works at Cold Stone. “We see a lot during lunch hours and after school.”

Restaurant owners say they too haven’t noticed a truancy problem.

“We don’t usually see too many students here during school hours,” said Holly Sloan, manager at McDonald’s in Tooele. “They’re usually just in here during lunch hours. There are days when there are more students than others, when there is an assembly or something that students aren’t going to, but for the most part, we don’t see too many.”