NCJ Number
149429
Journal
Executive Educator Dated: (February 1989) Pages: 16-17
Date Published
1989
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article describes how a network of five agencies in Hopewell, Va., has operated to address school truancy.
Abstract
The five agencies are the school system, the juvenile and domestic court services, the police juvenile division, the department of social services, and the city/county mental health counseling services. The school system does the legwork for the interagency network. On the 15th of each month, school administrators send letters to each of the agency representatives to remind them of the next monthly meeting and to ask them to submit names of at-risk children for the meeting agenda. Each agency must mail its response no later than the 20th of the month. On the 25th, the school system prepares an agenda for the meeting and sends it to each agency representative. The agenda gives the names of the students to be discussed, their dates of birth, and the names of other agencies who have requested that the same student be placed on the agenda. On the first Wednesday of the following month, the team holds a roundtable discussion. Each agency representative brings to the meeting any files the representative's agency might have on the students to be discussed. Since the network was established and began pooling information and expertise, truancy court cases have been much more productive. Three cases are summarized in this article to show how the prevention team has made a difference. The cases show that the judge has more room to maneuver when the team can present a comprehensive case that includes truancy as only one component of a larger problem.