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| Boone County's Innovative approach to Truancy Court |
Boone County
school officials looked for partners in the
community to address the growing problem of student
absenteeism in the district. The Boone County Human
Services Department agreed to work with the district
as one of the goals is to intervene with youth
before they are referred to the juvenile court
system. School and department representatives were
impressed with the Truancy Court project implemented
in Jefferson County and decided to initiate a pilot
truancy court project in one of the district's
schools. Truancy Courts operate in several Kentucky
counties and have proven to be successful in
diverting cases from the formal court system,
increasing attendance rates, and improving academic
performance. Typically, the program involves a
weekly or bi-monthly non-adversarial meeting with a
judge, students, and parents in the schools in order
to identify issues that prevent the youth from
attending school on a regular basis. In many cases,
school and social service agency staff are present
and work with the judge to help students and their
families resolve problems. Rather than focus on
negative behaviors, the officials encourage students
to improve not only attendance, but their academic
performance and behavior as well. The team helps the
student set weekly goals and celebrate successes
while offering encouragement. While the program is
voluntary, parents and students are informed that if
they do not participate in the diversion program,
formal truancy charges may be filed and the case
referred to juvenile or family court.
The size of the Boone County school district, which
includes 18 schools serving a total of 15,000
students, represented a challenge in terms of having
judges participate in the proceedings. Family Court
Judge Linda Bramlage is the only Family Court Judge
for the 54th Judicial District which includes both
Boone and Gallatin counties. While she was very
interested in diverting truancy cases from formal
processing, her busy schedule did not allow her to
go to schools and participate in truancy court.
The Judge, however, provided Kirk Kavanaugh,
Director of the county's Human Services Department
with names of several attorneys who practiced law in
Family Court. He and his staff contacted the
attorneys and asked if they would be willing to
volunteer their time to go to schools and hold
truancy court. Almost forty percent of the attorneys
contacted agreed to participate in the program. Six
attorneys were paired into three teams and each team
was assigned either four or five students The
pairings were necessary due to the volunteers' busy
schedules and insured that at least one attorney
could meet with a group of assigned students on a
weekly basis for an entire semester. The Human
Services Department assigned a staff member, Barry
Drizen, to the project and he attends all the
proceedings and maintains records. Keeping notes of
each session is critical so that attorneys are aware
of progress being made. Training of the volunteer
attorneys consisted of viewing a videotape of
Jefferson County's truancy court and discussing
uniform procedures.
A middle school was selected as the pilot site as
its average daily attendance rate was below the
state average and school administrators were eager
to participate in the project. Thirteen students
whose parents agreed to participate were identified
from a list of students who had a record of
tardiness and unexcused absences. Some parents were
initially skeptical that the program was designed to
help their children rather than punish them but face
to face meetings with Barry Drizer convinced them to
participate.
Truancy court, or Attendance Intervention and
Mediation Program (AIM) as it is called in Boone
County, began in January of 2004. At least one
attorney meets weekly with each student in the
assigned team. Parents are encouraged to participate
in the sessions but their attendance is not a
requirement of the program. The students' teachers
complete weekly reports summarizing the students'
attendance record, academic work and behavior in the
classroom. This information allows the attorneys to
assess the progress that is being made and address
specific issues with the students in the weekly
sessions. The goals of the program are to improve
attendance, academic performance, and behavior in
the classroom and at home. The attorneys usually
spend about one hour a week meeting with the
students in their assigned group. Ten of the
thirteen students successfully completed the program
and were provided with gifts in recognition of the
progress they made during the semester. Barry Drizen
plans to maintain contact with students who have
completed the program in order to monitor their
attendance.
Although the program has only been in existence for
four months, the results appear to be promising;
several students have improved their attendance. For
many students, the structured weekly meetings, the
interest of adults, and the positive reinforcement
they received resulted in not only increased
attendance rates but improved academic performance
and behavior as well. Next year, school and
department officials plan to expand the program to
three additional schools, one elementary, middle,
and high school. They also plan to increase to eight
the number of students that each attorney is
assigned so that more students can be served. |
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