Truancy Workgroup Members

Co-Chairs – Honorable John Kuhn & Cynthia Stoltz, Esq.

Members:

Courts Common Pleas Judges, MDJs, Hearing Officers, Court Administrators

Child Welfare DPW, CYF Administrators, Managers, Social Workers

Education PDE, PASA, PSBA, PAESSP, High School

Principals, Education Law Center

Juvenile Justice JCJC, Chief’s Association, PCCD

Workgroup Charge

• Gather information about critical systemic issues in PA regarding truancy

• Identify nationally recognized and PA truancy best practices

• Outline an approach and a series of recommendations for reducing truancy in PA

Recommendations

Truancy Workgroup Recommendation 1

Demonstrate Effective Collaboration Efforts Including Sharing the Accountability and

Responsibility for Truancy

Truancy Workgroup Recommendation 2

Create an Educational Culture/Climate that Prioritizes Students’ Connection to their School

and Engages Families

Truancy Workgroup Recommendation 3

Implement Specific Strategies with Measurable Outcomes Targeting Prevention,

Early Identification and Intervention

Truancy Workgroup Recommendation 4

Track Truancy Data and Program Outcomes and Share Information with Stakeholders

Truancy Workgroup Recommendation 5

Build Sustainable Funding Bases and Allocate Resources Based on

Data Informed Decisions and Partnerships that Maximize Efficiencies

Next Steps

1. Implementation Strategies

• Support for communities to implement the recommendations

• Communicate the message about the urgency of truancy

Next Steps

2. Collaborate with JCJC to identify truancy laws needing clarified or altered

3. Engage the medical community as a valued partner in addressing truancy at both the state and local levels

5 Things Local Children’s Roundtables can do

1. Read the Report2. Review your County’s School Truancy Data3. Bring the Information back to the Local

Children’s Roundtable4. Start Identifying Community Stakeholders who

may be Interested in discussing Truancy Issues

5. Begin a dialogue with Stakeholders

“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say, ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need to respond, I consider those people my heroes.”

- Fred Rogers

Truancy Report is available at: www.ocfcpacourts.us