SWEEPING AWAY TRUANCY: GUHSD REDUCES DROP-OUT RATE BY DROPPING IN ON KIDS WHO DITCH SCHOOL

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By Miriam Raftery
 

September 23, 2009 (Santee) – If you’re playing hooky in the Grossmont Union High School District, you might get some unexpected visitors . Today, Superintendent Bob Collins dropped in at the homes of truant students in Santee, along with a Sheriff’s Deputy and child welfare worker. Juvenile Detail sweeps also include visits to places frequented by truant teens, from Starbucks to parks to the local mall.

 

It’s all part of a joint effort that has reduced drop-out rates in the Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) from 7-8% three years ago to under 3% last year.

 

“We believe it will move to under 2% this year,” Suerintendent Collins (photo) said, adding that the district has been recognized nationally as a model for drop-out prevention. "for a high school district this large, that would be truly remarkable."

 

“We are working together as a team to keep kids in our community safe,” Captain Patricia Duke, Commander of the Santee Sheriff’s Station, said at a press conference before this month’s sweep. “Truancy is a stepping stone to juvenile delinquency and criminal behavior.”
 

Absenteeism in school can also lead to children being victims of crimes. In addition, it can signal a need for help, as in cases of abuse or neglect. Sometimes family counseling is needed, or intervention for students using drugs or alcohol.
 

“We provide early intervention,” Lucia Washburn, director of alternative education and student support services, explained. Students with recurrent truancies may face a School Attendance Review Board (SARB) and speak with drop-out prevention specialists. Kids and their parents are asked to sign an attendance contract---and if a student still ditches school, he or she goes before a juvenile court.
In California, minors are required by law to stay in school. Truant students can be placed on probation or placed in the juvenile justice system—where school attendance is compulsory.
 

Amanda, 17, is a student at Santana High School. “In my freshman and sophomore year, I missed up a lot. I ditched and didn’t go to class and just didn’t care. I was hanging out with the wrong crowd,” she says. Now a senior, she credits SARB with helping her straighten out. “When I started going to class, I realized I actually liked going to school,” she said. She hopes to attend Grossmont College and ultimately study psychology.
 

Meggan Vega, 19, (photo) said she got into trouble with drugs and was not going to school, until SARB intervened. Placed on probation for truancies, she was required to do community service, serving food at a homeless shelter. “I was watching this lady, she kept falling asleep in her food,” she recalled. “My probation officer said ` She’s withdrawing from heroine.’”
 

Since then, she’s graduated from Chaparral High School (a continuation school) and is attending Grossmont College. “I got a scholarship,” she said with pride. “I’m doing culinary school—I’m going to be a chef.”
 

The Sheriff’s office now conducts monthly sweeps for truancy in Santee, Lakeside and the unincorporated area. In the 2008-09 school year, Santee area schools issued 669 truancy letters to parents; Santee Sheriff’s Station issued 116 citations and contacted approximately 283 juvenile contacts during school hours.
 

This morning, one of those contacts included a male student who has already been ordered by a judge to stay in school, but is still ditching classes. The mother told officers she can’t get her son to listen.
The boy got a rude awakening. “He was asleep—and very surprised to see the Sheriff’s Deparetment and the Superintendent of schools sitting in his living room,” Detective Jason Rouse said afterwards.
 

Deputy C.E. May (photo) revealed, “The kid’s getting a misdemeanor charge for possession of alcohol. That’s probably one of the reasons he’s doing what he does.”
 

The student could face a fine or an opportunity to make changes agreed upon in a behavioral contract before his hearing, but will most likely face custody time. “He could be placed in a court school with no choice, noted Rouse.
 

“We’re going to do everything we can to prevent these kids from slipping through the cracks,” Rouse concluded. “The Grossmont District is very, very diligent about following truancy issues—and that goes right to the top, to the Superintendent.”
 


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