School Attendance Task Force

2012 School Attendance Task Force

Of the approximate 180,000 citations issued to youth each year, about 30% are for daytime curfew violations, better known as truancy. The Informal Juvenile and Traffic Courts handle the highest number of truancy cases in the County and the most common remedy has been to levy fines against the parents of truant youths. For a number of reasons, this approach is almost universally debunked as ineffective.

As there is a high correlation between truancy, school dropouts and crime rates, preventing and reducing truancy is a very important issue. Judge Michael Nash initiated the School Attendance Task Force (Originally the Truancy Task Force) in 2010 to see if one or more local strategies can be developed around successful initiatives so that the courts can contribute more positively to this issue.

The SATF is looking at approaches to truancy that appear to be working—especially those that keep youth out of the court system—as well as those that are not. It is reviewing law enforcement practices, school-based approaches and community-based programs and is considering what county departments are doing to combat truancy as well as how they are dealing with homeless youth, an arena that may shed some light on dealing with truancy. The Task Force will also hear from collaborative groups focusing on truancy—both locally and from other areas—to learn what they are accomplishing and to see if and how the SATF can build on their work.

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