TRUANCY PARTNERSHIP

Truancy Diversion Partnership

 

 

 

History

 

In April, 1995 the WESTMARC Education Committee sponsored a seminar on the City of Peoria/Peoria School District "Save Kids" truancy prevention program. The Peoria program used the City Prosecutor's Office to cite chronic truants and their parents into court, offer them counseling programs as a diversion to prosecution, and instill a sense of responsibility into students and parents. As a result of that meeting, WESTMARC was asked by several west valley districts if we, as the regional organization, would apply for federal grant monies to expand the program into several west valley school districts. WESTMARC applied for, and successfully secured, an Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) - U.S. Attorney General's office - grant passed through the Arizona Governor's Division for Children in mid 1995.

 

 

Implementation

 

We implemented the program in August, 1995 with 15 school districts, in 10 cities and towns, in western Maricopa County (more than 60 schools & 56,000 students). Arizona school district and municipal boundaries are not contiguous. Many of the municipalities participating in the program do not have full-time prosecutors and judges, so we needed to customize the Peoria plan to fit our expanded school district needs. We contacted the local justices of the peace (who handle small claims and are elected) and decided to use college and university interns in place of prosecutors. We met with various county officials (County Attorney, presiding Judge of the Superior Court, presiding Juvenile Court Judge and Probation Office) to inform them of our revisions.

 

We began with 1 university and 1 community college intern, but soon added another 3 as schools began active participation. WESTMARC interns handled school visits, home visits, court appearances, presentations to local community groups as well as helping children and their families deal with needs other than truancy. By the end of the 1995-1996 school year, WESTMARC had contact with 292 truancy students and their families. Of the 292 students, 176 were issued a citation to appear in a Justice Court. Of the 176, only 34 students repeated truant behavior; and of those 34, only 16 had to be transferred to Juvenile Court due to continuing truant behavior.

 

Expansion

 

During the 1996-1997 school year the program expanded to 25 school districts, with a population of more than 150,000 students. We recruited a total of 14 interns to work with the schools. WESTMARC had contact with 1,013 truant students; 422 were issued a citation to appear in a Justice Court. Of the 422, only 27 students repeated truant behavior and were transferred to Juvenile Court.

 

During the course of the 1996-1997 school year it was evident that the schools that were seeing greater results were the ones in which the interns were doing more than just assisting in the issuing of citations. Mentoring, tutoring, and referring families to community resources before the citation was issued was very effective in curbing truancy at these schools.

 

With this in mind, the project hired a full time manager and an intern coordinator for the 1997-1998 academic year to identify, train and equip the interns to work with the schools, parents, and students at the first signs of truant behavior. A staff of 17 culturally diverse interns from varied academic disciplines were trained to assist schools during the 1997-1998 school year. Over 1,500 students and families were served by the partnership during the year. Of these students 209, or 14% received a citation and 7% percent continued their truant behavior and were transferred to Juvenile Court.

 

The program continued into the 1998-1999 academic year with 18 interns which served 90 schools in 15 school districts. The schools identified over 1,300 students and families who were struggling with regular attendance. Of these students, 13% received a citation and 4% continued their truant behavior and were transferred to Juvenile Court.

 

 

Future of the Program

 

During the last four years district and school attendance policies have been refined and enforced. Program procedures have been modified to follow best practice based on the previous years work. Intern training and supervision increased as the need for more skilled personnel became necessary. Collaboration with local courts and law enforcement, juvenile probation and court, social service organizations, local community colleges and universities continued to grow and develop. As a result, every school saw gains in their attendance.

 

The partnership was established to determine if it could make an impact on attendance and truancy rates. Over the course of the last four years it has demonstrated that the partnership is successful and should continue. The next logical step for the program was for the school districts to take on the program by forming local partnerships, that can meet the needs of the community more efficiently, and refine the program year by year.

 

Therefore, in the fall of 1999, the program will be managed and staffed by the individual schools and districts that have participated in the partnership. The schools have seen the benefit of a systematic and systemic approach to improving school attendance and are now better able to manage and adjust the program for their unique communities.

 

Over the course of this project, the program changed from the prosecutor based system of the original Peoria program to a program which brings the resources of the community together to address the problem which is causing the truant behavior. We feel a program that utilizes common sense and the community will be the most effective.

 

 

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