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The Truancy Court Prevention Project (TCPP) was launched
in September 2004 with the purpose of reducing Hartford's high dropout
rate. The program currently provides case management services for
7th and 8th grade students at Quirk Middle School and kindergarten,
7th and 8th grade students at Burr School. TCPP is a collaboration
between the Center for Children's Advocacy, Hartford Public Schools,
the Village for Families and Children, and the Capitol Region Education
Council.
Photo and quote courtesy of The
Tow Foundation. Photo by Richard Freed.
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Case Management that links students
to needed services, such as mentoring, counseling, after school
and youth development activities, tutoring, and job placement.
Case managers from community-based agencies monitor students'
academic progress and attendance and serve as liaisons between
the school, student and his family. Case managers also facilitate
family engagement in school by conducting regular home visits
and updating parents on their child's progress.
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Educational Review and Assistance
A student's school record is reviewed by an educational consultant
who makes recommendations for improved academic performance.
The consultant also observes classrooms and attends Planning
and Placement Team (PPT) meetings.
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Informal Court Sessions
held at school with Connecticut
judges.
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Legal Assistance to secure appropriate
school plans for students in areas that affect attendance, such
as education, special education, access to health and mental
health services, and public benefits.
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Legal Advocacy on systemic issues
that may contribute to high dropout rates. Past and current
examples of such issues include fair discipline policy, the
entitlement to appropriate bilingual education, and access to
tutoring and school choice under the No Child Left Behind Act.
- Aftercare Services
Eva's Story
Eva, a 14 year old middle school student from Hartford,
was struggling in school. Her teachers consistently reported that
she was disruptive and disrespectful. She had been suspended from
school for 15 days, had numerous disciplinary write-ups, and had
actually been arrested for her disruptive behavior. School staff
could not keep Eva in class and she was often found wandering the
hallways.
Eva was failing all of her classes. She had been promoted
by exception to eighth grade, meaning she had not met the academic
standards for promotion.
The Center for Children's Advocacy became involved
in Eva's case through our Truancy Court Prevention Project (TCPP),
which works with middle school students to lower truancy and dropout
rates. Despite her long-standing academic struggles, Eva had never
been evaluated for special education services and no one had addressed
the inadequacy of her educational program. The TCPP attorney and
a project case manager worked with Eva to create a plan for academic
and behavioral success.
Once identified as requiring special education services,
Eva was placed in an educational setting with a significantly smaller
student-to-teacher ratio, fewer transitions between classes and
more structured behavioral redirection. She began to receive speech
and language services to work on pragmatics (appropriate response
to others), and benefitted from social work services at school.
The new educational placement greatly improved Eva's
school life. Teachers reported that she engaged in the classroom,
behaved respectfully, and began to understand that she can succeed.
She has had no further suspensions or disciplinary write-ups and
no longer wanders the hallways. Eva reports that she feels good
about her schoolwork.
In addition to Eva's personal achievements, her story
reflects the strength of the TCPP's collaborative partnerships.
As a result of CCA's efforts in getting her an appropriate educational
placement, TCPP case managers were able to have Eva's delinquency
case diverted to the Juvenile Review Board (JRB) to keep her out
of court and away from juvenile delinquency involvement.
Our Systemic Work Helps Many Connecticut Students
Individual cases like Eva's inform CCA's systemic
advocacy. Many children in Connecticut are arrested at school for
behavior that could be handled within the regular disciplinary system.
Eva's arrest by a school resource officer (SRO), a police officer
stationed in the school, became an integral part of our advocacy
for passage of legislation to provide additional training to help
SROs work with youth to resolve behavioral issues and avoid involvement
in the juvenile justice system.
Eva's case also emphasizes the importance of our continued
efforts to raise public awareness about truancy and its root causes.
Dr. Andrea Spencer, CCA's educational consultant, compiles data
from her TCPP work to make suggestions for systemic improvements
for services to truant youth. CCA recently published Dr. Spencer's
report entitled, "Las Niñas Silenciadas,"
which addresses the root causes of the truancy epidemic faced by
Latina girls. This report has been provided to key policy-makers
to improve discourse about important support services.
CCA's systemic advocacy extends to issues faced by
youth who are considered status offenders, the majority of whom
are truant from school, to provide services that address the root
causes of status offense behavior and avoid court involvement. We
continue to advocate for statewide Family Support Centers (FSC),
one-stop locations where youth have access to community services
that include counseling, academic assistance and anger management.
Later this year, the American Bar Association will
publish a Center for Children's Advocacy paper on accessing interventions
for status offenders to divert them from further court involvement.
National publication of this paper will provide important information
about appropriate legal response to schools' continued violation
of state and federal law.
Information
and History of Truancy Court Project
Changing the Judiciary's
Relaltionship with a Community, One Child at a Time
ABA Judges' Journal Summer 2007
Features the work of Justice Richard Palmer and Appellate Judge
Douglas Lavine with the Truancy Court Prevention Project.
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