Erie County Truancy Assessment Adam Saeler, MS, Research Analyst Amy Eisert, MS, Director George Fickenworth, MBA, Assistant Director

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Erie County Truancy Assessment: A Special report Completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute: September, 2009

The following is an abridged version of the full truancy assessment report completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute on behalf of the Erie County Truancy Taskforce. The full report contains in full detail what the following snapshot does not. The unabridged version of the report can be found at www.civicinstiute.org.

Introduction and Background In 2007 the Erie County Criminal Justice Coalition amended their strategic plan to focus on truancy among other community concerns. The Coalition chose truancy as a principal concern due to the evidence produced in a number of nationwide studies that established truancy as an underlying factor of both juvenile and adult criminality. “Adults who were chronically truant from school when young are at elevated risk for a host of problems, including poor physical and mental health, poverty and welfare, incarceration, and raising children who themselves exhibit problem behaviors” (Baker, Sigmon, & Nugent, 2001). Other studies noted the impact truancy can have regarding both present academic activity as well as possible future adult criminality. According to MacGillivary (2006) of the National Center for School Engagement, truancy is correlated with poor performance on standardized tests, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, and eventual adult criminality. Other studies have indicated similar findings; truancy and excessive absenteeism have also been linked to alcoholism (Miller & Plant, 1999; Wichstrom, 1998), disturbed adolescent development (Baer, 1999), and early conduct disorders (Fergusson & Horwood, 1998). Truancy has been identified as a precursor for serious violent behavior and nonviolent offenses, particularly apparent among males (Kelley, Loeber, & DeLamarte, 1997). Characteristics of truant youth have been found to include youth from low income households, having parents who do not have high school diplomas, being victims of abuse and neglect, having mental health issues, and having parents with substance abuse issues and/or histories of criminal behavior (National Center for School Engagement, 2005). Numerous other studies have been cited in previous works completed for various agencies regarding truancy and the effect it can have on young people. Even though truancy is often an afterthought in the minds of many criminal justice practitioners due to the fact that it is labeled as a status offense for juveniles, it potentially can manifest itself into much more pressing community concerns. According to data compiled through PAChildStat, which is an outcomes indicators project completed by Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare, Erie County’s truancy rate is 2.69%. This indicator illustrates the number and percentage of habitual truants in public schools based on individual school self-reports. By law, the PA Department of Education tracks habitual truants. When a student has three unexcused absences, a notification is sent home. If the student has three additional unexcused absences, he/she is then defined as a "habitual truant." Numbers reflect count of unduplicated students. When compared to other urban third class counties (comparable to Erie County), we see that Erie County has reported the lowest truancy rate. A disclaimer should be added that this truancy rate is based on self-report data gained

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Erie County Truancy Assessment: A Special report Completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute: September, 2009

from school districts within each county. Also, there was considerable discrepancy between the number of truants reported by Erie County and the number of truants reported by local magisterial district judges (illustrated later). With this in mind, a truancy taskforce, spearheaded by Judge Stephanie Domitrovich, was established in late summer of 2007 by the Erie County Court of Common Pleas. In essence, this taskforce took the reins from the Erie County Criminal Justice Coalition, being considerably active and engaged since its inception. The taskforce includes representation from the Erie County Criminal Justice Coalition, city and county school districts, juvenile court judges, representatives from the District Attorney’s office, Public Defender’s office, Erie County Office of Children and Youth, Erie County Juvenile Probation Department, in addition to non-profit social service agencies, and two local colleges. Through taskforce discussions, it was agreed upon that truancy is an issue within Erie County; however, the magnitude of the issue was unclear at the time. In order to effectively address the issues of truancy, the taskforce agreed that they needed to gain a thorough understanding of where the problems lie. In order to conduct the appropriate evaluation of truancy in Erie County the Criminal Justice Coalition applied for and received a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). The Mercyhurst College Civic Institute was contracted to complete the primary function of this grant which was to conduct the aforementioned community needs assessment. Nationally, truancy accounted for one-third of all status offenses petitioned in 2004 (Puzzanchera, 2007). Understanding that piece of national data illustrated the importance of efforts to gain a better perspective of how extensive an issue truancy is in Erie County. Qualitative and quantitative data were both explored to first gain an understanding of the personal impact, and secondly to gain a measured and detailed illustration of the total number of truant students. Those quantitative efforts began with tracking student absences through available school-based data. All thirteen public school districts in Erie County were contacted to ascertain their specific data. At that time it was also requested that an interview be scheduled with school-based personnel to gain a perspective of those educators that deal directly with truancy on a day to day basis. Researchers from the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute also contacted all fifteen local magisterial district judges to expand upon the school data. Since there is no universal definition for truancy, researchers determined that data from local school districts would provide a reasonably complete picture of how much of an issue truancy and excessive number of absences is in Erie County. Data from magisterial district judges (MDJ) would then solidify that picture as this data set illustrates the number of truancy citations issued during a given year. A disclaimer might be added here in that the school data is from the first semester of school year 2008-2009 while the data from magisterial district judges is from the entire 2008 calendar year. Therefore the two data sets do not match up exactly but do overlap for one semester. Also, the school data provides an entire overview of not only truancy citations but also excessive absences. This issue will be discussed later in this report. The data from the local magisterial district judges would provide the official number of truancy cases that those fifteen district judges presided over during the 2008 school year. The qualitative data gained via the needs assessment will be discussed first, and is as follows.

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Erie County Truancy Assessment: A Special report Completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute: September, 2009

School Based Personnel Interviews The majority of personnel interviewed maintained that after three unexcused/illegal absences a first notice would be sent to the parents of the absent student. Variance was noted regarding the number of unexcused/illegal absences necessary in order to send home a second notice, which in most cases was sent via certified mail. The most variance, however, was noted when filing a citation with the local magisterial district judge. In some instances a strict guideline was followed, in other cases the school would determine a course of action on a case by case basis. The majority of school personnel noted that citations were the last course of action; there was no consensus among interviewees regarding whether or not to file citations against the student, parent or both. In conclusion, most personnel interviewed reported that truancy is not a significant problem within their district. Magisterial District Judge Interviews Magisterial district judges (MDJs) in attendance at the focus group held by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute exhibited consistency with school personnel when asked similar questions. MDJs noted that school is simply not a priority for some parents and students, which is the leading cause of the truancy cases they presided over. MDJs did report that there seems to be “little or no teeth” in truancy laws; they noted that common sanctions such as fines are often times not effective as parents cannot pay the fines. However, they did note effective strategies include truancy elimination plans, truancy secretaries or school resource officers to track attendance, filing truancy citations immediately, and improving communication lines between all agencies involved. Judges also continued to emphasize the importance of continually engaging students, reporting that out of school suspension should be discontinued, and that schools should discontinue the practice of giving students a zero for missed work during those unexcused/illegal absences gained. Finally all MDJs felt as though truancy was a significant problem within their districts. Office of Children and Youth Interviews Many responses were consistent with both school personnel and magisterial district judges. Caseworkers at the Erie County Office of Children and Youth (OCY) did note that common reasons they often encounter for truancy include drug and alcohol issues and mental health issues among students. OCY caseworkers also noted that the current lines of communication they employ, especially with local school districts should be improved. Caseworkers noted that oftentimes local schools and the local MDJs all feel as though OCY is the agency that can most effectively combat truancy as they are the agency with the “teeth” necessary to reduce truancy. Caseworkers noted that this is simply not the case. If a child’s needs are met there is little that OCY can do. Caseworkers further emphasized this point when noting a recent charge from state officials that no child, under any circumstances, should be

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Erie County Truancy Assessment: A Special report Completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute: September, 2009

placed solely for truancy. Caseworkers noted that alternative sanctions should be explored, and that as long as they are made aware of a truancy case they might be able to assist local school districts. Truancy Data All 15 local MDJs were asked to send offense reports for truancy hearings from the 2008 calendar year to the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute in an effort to gain a quantitative measure of truancy in Erie County. According to those reports, there were 1,185 truancy citations to their offices at least 30 days apart. Approximately 912 of those referrals were for juveniles (793 unduplicated) and 273 were to parents (214 unduplicated). Those students listed in the above offense reports were then tracked in the juvenile probation computer system in an effort to gain an understanding of whether or not those students were also involved with the Office of Juvenile Probation at the time of citation or any time prior to citation. The results are as follows. Seventy-seven youth (eighty-seven instances) had involvement with juvenile probation prior to the truancy offense date, but no current involvement with probation at the time of the truancy offense. Fifteen of those youths prior probation involvement was exclusively for failure to comply charges. Four additional youth had prior failure to comply charges in addition to other charges. Four youth had prior violent offenses. Data from magisterial district judges was also used to develop an understanding of the amount of time that typically passes between citation an hearing date, as well as to illustrate a comparison of when local MDJs receive citations. According to the data gained from magisterial district judges, the average length of time that passes between citation and hearing date is 60 days. However, upon review of school data and MDJ data the average time between first unexcused/illegal absence and hearing data was approximately 115 days, during which the average student gained an additional 8 unexcused/illegal absences.

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Erie County Truancy Assessment: A Special report Completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute: September, 2009

Figure 1 illustrates the number of truancy citations received by MDJs each month of the 2008 calendar year. October was by far the most common month to receive citations

Figure 1

Parents’ and Students’ Perceptions The local MDJs were also asked to hand out surveys developed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute at the truancy hearings held at their offices. These surveys measured both parents’ and students’ perceptions on topics ranging from importance of education, common reasons to miss class time, to perceptions of student’s attendance problems. In many instances the majority of both parents and students answered similarly, however there were cases of glaring differences. Figure 2 and 3 illustrate the comparison of parents and students’ perceptions of common reasons students miss school. Parents’ perceptions are illustrated in figure 2, while students’ perceptions are illustrated in figure 3.

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Erie County Truancy Assessment: A Special report Completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute: September, 2009

Figure 2

Figure 3

It was also interesting to note that a majority of both parents and students felt that education was important to success in the future. However, there was not an overwhelming majority in either population as to whether or not there was an attendance problem within their family. Keep in mind that these surveys were completed prior to truancy hearings at the MDJ level, therefore, there was in fact an attendance problem. Figures 4 and 5 illustrates the perceived importance of education and future success on life as reported by parents and students surveyed.

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Erie County Truancy Assessment: A Special report Completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute: September, 2009

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate whether or not parents and students feel as though the students who was cited for truancy has an attendance problem.

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Erie County Truancy Assessment: A Special report Completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute: September, 2009

Figure 6

Figure 7

Conclusions and Recommendations Upon review of the data presented in this report the following recommendations might be considered. After careful review and consideration of both school personnel interviews and magisterial district judge interviews, it seems as though the most appropriate action on the part of schools/school districts might be to file against both parent and student, allowing the magisterial district judge to sort out exactly whom to charge. Also it is important for

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Erie County Truancy Assessment: A Special report Completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute: September, 2009

schools/school districts to file in a timely manner. As soon as is appropriate, schools/school districts should be filing truancy referrals with their local magisterial district judge. However, schools/school districts should consider any efforts to offer any alternatives, interventions, and support to those students with attendance problems in an effort to offer these alternatives concurrently with the formal process that begins at the magisterial district judge’s office. There is a greater chance that attendance issues will be solved when they are identified nearer to the onset of the problem, and not months or years later. Put another way, early intervention is key. As many MDJs pointed out, there are little or no “teeth” to the truancy laws. This seems especially evident as students get older. If a student is allowed to continually miss school, he or she may become accustomed to the practice. Also as time passes, attitudes may change, affecting the importance placed on education. Greater parental education as well as community education might be considered. Parents, as well as the community at large, should continually be made aware of not only attendance polices but also attendance laws set forth by the state of Pennsylvania. All agencies involved may also want to considered education each other with regards to specific agency roles. It seemed a common theme during interviews that many misunderstood the exact roles of many of the agencies involved with truancy students. Schools may also want to consider, when possible, the addition of an attendance specific secretary or other entity charged specifically with tracking attendance within the school/school district in order to maintain accurate and up to date attendance data. School-based personnel echoed this recommendation continually during the interviews conducted by the authors of this report. Students should also be made aware of the consequences of continued absences. As was highlighted by the perceptions of students, many reported that education was important to ensuring a successful future, but only about half thought they had a truancy problem. There seems to be a lack of comprehension on behalf of students in that they understand education is important but they do not see truancy as a hindrance on that education. When a student does miss school illegally, schools often do not allow that student to make up any missed work, which results in a zero. This practice may only exacerbate the problem due to the fact that it may further discourage an already disinterested student. Schools/school districts may consider adjusting this policy in an effort to maintain interest in those students. At times, students miss considerable amounts of class time due to the fact that they receive a medical excuse from the family doctor. Such instances may sometimes be warranted in cases of extended illnesses. However, on more than one occasion during both interviews with MDJs as well as during truancy taskforce meetings, the practice of doctor shopping was discussed. The term illustrates the fact that sometimes family doctors might sign excuses without knowing the full details of the case. In the future, schools/school districts may want to review or further investigate any suspicious instances with family doctors as to not allow the practice to continue. Schools/school districts may also want to revisit the practice of establishing truancy elimination plans as set forth by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. An important finding of this

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Erie County Truancy Assessment: A Special report Completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute: September, 2009

report is that there is no “one size fits all” approach to eliminating truancy. Every case is specific to the student; therefore, any elimination plan should be specific to the case. If schools/school districts were able to establish these truancy elimination plans in conjunction not only with the student and parent involved but also with the appropriate magisterial district judge and even the Office of Children and Youth when their presence is called for, efforts to reduce truancy may be much more effective. Other recommendations include a better overall line of communication between all parties involved. Schools/school districts should maintain lines of communication not only with those students and parents directly involved with truancy, but also with their local magisterial district judge, with the Office of Children and Youth, the Office of Juvenile Probation, and any other entity that may be able to solve a specific student’s attendance problem. A further recommendation here might also be that when possible schools consider allowing the Office of Children and Youth and the Office of Juvenile Probation access to their attendance records so caseworkers and juvenile probation officers can be aware of any students who are exhibiting attendance problems. Lines of communication should also flow from magisterial district judges. They should continue to make efforts to communicate effectively with the schools/school districts within their magisterial district, as well as with the Office of Children and Youth and the Office of Juvenile Probation. The Office of Children and Youth in Erie County should also make every effort to maintain good lines of communication with local school districts as well as with the Office of Juvenile Probation and any other entity that can assist in the reduction of truancy. No one entity should be left with the burden of solving a case of truancy. Magisterial district judges may consider meeting to develop creative strategies to reduce truancy within their districts. Based on conversations held during the focus group conducted with some of the local magisterial district judges this effort may alleviate the problem of truancy laws having “no teeth.” What works in one community may not work in another community, especially in such a diverse county. Also, when possible, the time between truancy citation and truancy hearing should be as minimal as possible.

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Erie County Truancy Assessment: A Special report Completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute: September, 2009

Works Cited Baer, J. (1999). Adolescent development and the junior high school environment. Social Work in Education, 21(4), 238–248. Baker, M., Sigmon, J, and Nugent, M. (2001, September). Truancy Reduction: Keeping Students in School. OJJDP Juvenile Justice Bulletin. Retrieved January 3, 2008, from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/188947.pdf. Fergusson, D.M., and Horwood, I.J. (1998). Early conduct problems and later life opportunities. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 39(8), 1097–1108. Kelley, B.T., Loeber, R., Keenan, K., and DeLamarte, M. (1997). Developmental pathways in boys’ disruptive and delinquent behavior. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice,Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. MacGillivary, H. (2006). Assessing the Prevalence of Truancy: A Four Piece Puzzle. National Center for School Engagement. Retrieved January 3, 2008, from http://www.schoolengagement.org/index.cfm/index.cfm/Research%20Publications. Miller, P., and Plant, M. (1999). Truancy and perceived school performance: an alcohol and drugs study of UK teenagers. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 34(6), 886–893. National Center for School Engagement. (September 2005). The legal and economic implications of truancy: Executive summary. Retrieved February 1, 2007 from www.schoolengagement.org. Wichstrom, L (1998). Alcohol intoxication and school dropout. Drug and Alcohol Review, 17(4), 413–421.

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Erie County Truancy Assessment: A Special report Completed by the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute: September, 2009