Monday, February 28, 2000
Schools and police allies in truancy battle
New program slashes rate
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
With one in four students absent or tardy daily, Taft High School Principal Mary Gladden has become creative in trying to get kids to school.
She required latecomers to sit in the auditorium until their next class. She disciplined chronic truants by requiring them to give up weekend time at “Saturday School.” She even posted a sign outside the 900-student, West End school imploring parents to help fight truancy.
In December, she turned to the Cincinnati Police Division for help. A new program that the division's Youth Services Section launched last month has become her antidote.
Every time a student is late or absent, a Cincinnati police officer visits that child's home to determine if there's a legitimate reason for the absence or tardiness. If not, the officer returns the student to school; chronic school-skippers get a trip to juvenile detention.
The “Target Truancy” program has slashed truancy 35.8 percent since Jan. 24, according to police. About 50 kids were tardy daily last week, compared with an average of 132 a day before the program, police said.
“We are unable to effect any kind of change in attendance without the participation of parents,” Mrs. Gladden said. “The police lend a voice of authority; they have the powers to take kids and parents to court. It's helping us tremendously with the number of kids who come late, but we're not sure yet on the impact on the daily attendance.”
The program this week expanded to Oyler School, a kindergarten-through-seventh-grade school in Price Hill, said Capt. David G. Ratliff, commander of the Youth Services Section. The truancy rate is about 10 percent at Oyler and is highest among sixth- and seventh-graders, Principal Donald Bearghman said.
Capt. Ratliff said he'd like to expand the program to more schools, but future funding is uncertain. The division earmarked $50,000 from a federal grant to fund the program at Taft through the end of the school year.
“Truancy is a gateway to crime, and it needs to be addressed,” Capt. Ratliff said.
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