Funding Alert

On January 8, Mayor Douglas H. Palmer joined Trenton School Superintendent Rodney Lofton in reporting that a citywide, collaborative truancy-reduction effort last year cut truancy and brought counseling services to some 1,000 families.

The campaign was, in part, an outgrowth of advocacy efforts led by the Trenton CHANGE Coalition. "Truancy enforcement was one of the key public safety recommendations that came out of the CHANGE Coalition in 2005," the Mayor said. "Our goal has been to get to the root of the problem that is causing students to skip school, and then to redirect our children so that they are kept safe from the next level of gangs, guns, and drugs."

The program, begun last March, assessed 1,039 truant students through December. After being contacted, 975 parents responded. Only 46 of the students were identified as truant again. "Children who are not in school when they should be have one foot in trouble and the other on a slippery slope," Mayor Palmer said. "National research and local experience show that children playing hooky become vulnerable to dropping out. If that happens, they give up not only their learning and earning potential, but in the worst cases, they turn to drugs and gangs and serious crime. As parents and community members, we must rescue our children from these sad outcomes. Instead of giving up, we are going to build up our young people."

"Truancy is not just about our children, but about the health, safety and education of all students," Trenton School Superintendent Rodney Lofton added. "The key is not only to bring students back to school, but to keep them safe and secure in a supportive environment that promotes academic achievement. The collaboration between the Mayor's Office, the Trenton Board of Education and the Trenton Police Department to reduce and prevent truancy contains the essential ingredients to successfully turn around a problem, that seriously and negatively impacts education and the community."

The truancy reduction program also involved Barry Colicelli, consultant to the Mayor for Anti-Gang Initiatives and Youth Development. Colicelli worked with Assistant School Superintendent David Weathington as well as Howard White, the school district security chief and School Attendance Officer Bill Young to manage the effort, which involves giving truant students a psychosocial evaluation by a professional case management team.

Colicelli explained that student cases are referred to behavioral health and social service providers and the weekly YouthStat conference, a meeting of state, county and city youth agency representatives. On a case-by-case basis, YouthStat participants share information about youth making bad choices, match those individuals with helpful interventions, and monitor their progress. Colicelli also highlighted the following findings from the 2006 truancy reduction and prevention program:

627 young people in spring 2006 were identified as truant from school; another 412 were identified this past fall, for a total of 1,039 truant students identified

Of these students, the average age was 15

46 students were identified as truant again, for a recidivism rate of 4 percent

86 of the identified truant students were from outside Trenton

975 parents responded to the mandate to pick up their children - and since have been involved in follow-up remedial efforts

37 of the 1,039 truant students were suspected gang members

"Although the primary benefit here is redirecting lives, preliminary police data from spring 2006 showed index crime in Trenton dropped 33 percent during the daytime hours, when the truancy program was in full force," Colicelli said. "That is a significant benefit to students, families, and the community -- and it will continue."

For more info contact Kent Ashworth – 609-989-3828 – (fax #: 989-3939) – kashworth@trentonnj.org.