The StarAdvertiser has a report about the Court trying to address the high absenteeism at Waianae Intermediate School.
So, they have focused on the problem and stats, and put in place a specialized truancy court. The outcome this year:
So far, it sounds like there had been notable success.
One has to wonder just how much the parents are part of the problem for some of those students? If a parent does not become involved and instead allows their child to be chronically truant, maybe there needs to be a special court program for the parents, too.
Anyway, the program seems to be offering a pathway to educational success for some students that might otherwise end up dropping out. That is good!
The school, with 913 students in grades 7 and 8, had the highest chronic absenteeism rate last school year among middle schools at 38 percent, reflecting the percentage of students absent 15 days or more. The state average for middle schools was 14 percent that year.
Waianae Intermediate students on average missed 21 school days — amounting to more than four weeks of school — compared with the statewide average of nine absences.
A total of 68 students were referred to Truancy Court last year: 40 eighth-graders and 28 seventh-graders. “The majority had 60 to 90 absences,” Remigio said. Of the 49 truancy petitions the state ended up filing for the group, 31 cases were diverted from court because the students demonstrated improvement. Eighteen of the cases were brought to court, and 16 of those students improved enough during their court visits to have their cases closed.
So far, it sounds like there had been notable success.
One has to wonder just how much the parents are part of the problem for some of those students? If a parent does not become involved and instead allows their child to be chronically truant, maybe there needs to be a special court program for the parents, too.
Anyway, the program seems to be offering a pathway to educational success for some students that might otherwise end up dropping out. That is good!
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