September 5, 2024
By Joy Keller
As of August, there has been over 70 bills filed in 2024 in over half the states concerning truancy and attendance. It got our attention. September is Attendance Awareness Month. Every state and D.C. have compulsory education laws. Yet all states are still grappling with a spike in truancy since the pandemic. More than a quarter of students miss at least 10% of the school year. Truancy is not a problem only with older students; it occurs in elementary and middle schools as well.
Chronic absenteeism and truancy are often symptoms of a bigger problem with either a child or a family. While each case is unique and should be treated as such, some common challenges that lead to barriers to attendance are mental health conditions (like anxiety or depression), chronic health conditions, bullying, disengagement from school, or problems at home. Getting to the root cause of truancy and identifying chronic absenteeism early can help students and families overcome these challenges.
For example, in Pennsylvania, Act 138 requires that schools hold an Attendance Improvement Conference to examine the reasons for the child’s absences and develop a plan of action together with the family to address the root causes before a truancy citation or a referral to children and youth services.
Legislators are looking for ways to tackle this spike in truancy. Courts have partnered with schools to improve attendance. Highlights include new specialty courts and processes and new resources.
New truancy and diversion courts and court processes:
- Truancy is a bigger problem in 2024 than during the COVID-19 pandemic, so schools in Palm Beach County, Florida have been petitioning parents to court for the first time. Truancy courts bring community organizations together in one place to give families the support they need. Juvenile Court Judge Kathleen Kroll remarked, “The children are coming to school. They are doing well. They are healthier. The families are healthier. And that's a great success.”
- In early 2024, Transylvania County, North Carolina held its first truancy court, which brings in the family unit to understand the root cause and provide resources.
- Prevention officers in Ohio’s Guernsey County Juvenile Court are assigned to meet with the child and their family and address the reason for the absences in an informal contract to avoid filing charges with the court. The number of court findings “are down significantly.”
- In Nashville, Tennessee a new truancy court aims to address chronic absenteeism if a student fails to show up to the classroom for more than 15 days by identifying and addressing barriers in a nonpunitive and supportive way.
New resources:
- The Supreme Court of Ohio and the Department of Education coproduced a toolkit, Developing an Effective School Attendance Program. It lists how and when schools and courts can intervene to remedy attendance issues and includes ways to bring in community partners to get support before the attendance problem reaches truancy.
- Pennsylvania developed a Judge’s Guide to Truancy, which includes a screening tool. It assesses housing stability, technology access, language and transportation barriers, and medical and behavioral health.
Does your court partner with schools to reduce truancy? Email us at Knowledge@ncsc.org or call 800-616-6164 and let us know. Follow the National Center for State Courts on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Vimeo. For more Trending Topics posts, visit ncsc.org/trendingtopics and subscribe to the LinkedIn newsletter.