MEMPHIS, TN – Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons announced that the D.A.’s Office is taking extra efforts to ensure accurate attendance records for the students enrolled at the five schools participating in the D.A.’s Truancy Reduction Initiative.
Because of problems in the past with the Memphis City Schools’ attendance reporting software, the D.A.’s Office is supplying the faculty and teachers at Chickasaw, Cypress, Hamilton, Hickory Ridge and Sherwood Middle Schools with attendance-keeping books. The attendance books will be distributed to the schools on Thursday, August 30th by the administrator of the Truancy Reduction Initiative.
“The goal of our initiative is to identify truant students as soon as they have accumulated five unexcused absences and pair those students as quickly as possible with mentors,” explained District Attorney Gibbons. “Last school year, there were some issues obtaining accurate attendance records because of troubles with the software, so we have asked the principals of these schools also take attendance ‘the old fashioned way,’ with pencil and paper,” Gibbons added.
The D.A.’s Office has placed “advocates” in each school to obtain daily attendance records and refer students to Juvenile Court who are truant. The advocates are graduate-level students studying social work at The University of Memphis, The University of Tennessee at Memphis and Crichton College. In addition to monitoring students’ attendance records, the advocates work with students who are placed into the program, to ensure they are meeting with their mentors regularly, and to help assist them with any social services they or their families may need. The attendance books will help them to more easily access students’ attendance records and improve the accuracy of those records.
“We are all working for a common goal, to encourage students to stay in school, improve their grades and conduct, and curb juvenile crime,” said Gibbons. A study conducted by the D.A.’s Office showed that 25 percent of all juvenile crime occurred on school days during school hours. By definition, these crimes were committed by truant students.
During the 2006-07 school year, the D.A.’s Office paired 53 students with mentors at Chickasaw, Cypress, and Hickory Ridge Middle Schools. Two schools, Hamilton and Sherwood, were added to the initiative this year.
The D.A.’s Office needs more mentors. A mentor is not a tutor, but rather a caring adult who shows an interest in a young person’s life. All prospective mentors must undergo a background check and a mentor training session. Mentors agree to meet with a student for at least eight hours a month for one calendar year. If you or someone you know is interested in mentoring a middle school student as part of the D.A.’s Truancy Reduction Initiative, please go to www.scdag.com and click on the “information” link near the top of the page for more details and an application. |