Midstate DA’s office working to reduce truancy
Students change classes at a public school in Pennsylvania. (Jessica Kourkounis for Keystone Crossroads)
(Harrisburg) — A unique program to reduce truancy in several public schools is underway in one midstate county.
The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office is running the program with five school districts, after a pilot was coordinated with two districts last year.
Sarah Fritz, a community outreach coordinator for the DA’s office, said school districts found themselves needing help to address the issue of truancy because of a change in state law. It now requires they seek more options before citing the student and starting a court process.
In response, Fritz developed a diversionary program giving students and their families the chance to attend a one-time, two-hour program.
She said it consists of a series of videos and discussions that explains the law, outlines resources for families, and details the risks that come with truancy.
“So that they can develop a plan to correct their truancy before it goes any further and they’re then entered into court,” Fritz said.
She added the initiative could save the county money by keeping students out of the court system both now and in the future.
“The more time students are spending in school the less likely they will go on to enter the criminal justice system,” Fritz said.
During the pilot program last year, 59 students attended the program out of the 136 who were referred by two school districts.
Fritz said she hopes to collect more data this year on how the program’s working and how it could be improved.
Other midstate counties have truancy diversion initiatives in place, but they are handled by agencies other than the DA’s office.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
