MICHAEL O. FREEMAN

HENNEPIN COUNTY ATTORNEY

CRIMINAL JUSTICE INSTITUTE PRESENTATION

AUGUST 24, 2009

Educational Neglect

How to Keep the Youngest Truants in School:

A First Step in Fighting Juvenile Crime

I.                HCAO is in the business of prosecuting and preventing crime.

Most youth who commit felonies were truant first.

• School completion significantly reduces the probability of criminal activity.
• It is estimated that a 1% increase in the high school graduation rates would save the U.S. economy nearly $2 billion from reduced costs associated with criminal behavior.
• Differences in educational attainment between black and white                     men explain 23% of the black-white gap in male incarceration rates.
• Chronic truancy can be linked to serious delinquent behavior at age 12 and under.
• Decades of research have also identified a link between truancy and later problems such as violence, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, job problems and adult criminality.  

II.    School Attendance Matters.

A. Frequent absences can predict high school dropouts by third grade with a 70% accuracy and by ninth grade can predict 90% of dropouts.

B.  Regular school attendance, on the contrary,

1. Strong predictor of child’s future

2. Pro-social skills are learned at school with increased bonds to society.
3. Maximizes opportunities to learn
4. Higher levels of academic achievement
5. Steady progress to High School Graduation

III. MN Statutes

• All children must attend school from the time they are enrolled in kindergarten until they are 16 years old or graduate from high school. (120.A   Compulsory Education)
• Educational Neglect (260.C)

1.Children under 12 years old

2. Presumption: the parents are responsible

• Truancy (260.A)

                                   1. Children 12 and older

2. Presumption: the child is responsible

IV.   A snap shot of the severity of problem in Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS):

• 3,197 or 19.3%, almost 20%, of all K-5 students in MPS had 6 or more unexcused absences in ’06-’07.

• 1,858 or 11% of all K-5 students in MPS had 9 or more unexcused absences in ‘06-’07

V.   Education for Success – A program to improve attendance and reduce the number of Child Protection reports

• Problem prompted  HCAO to facilitate a collaborative process between  Hennepin County and  Minneapolis Public Schools to develop a coordinated response to chronic absenteeism
• This program focuses on early, progressively more intensive interventions to address a student’s poor attendance.
• The Process:
  1. The school takes daily attendance
  2. Parent is contacted by the school when a child misses school.
  3. A letter is sent home from the principal at 3 unexcused absences.
  4. At 6 unexcused absences, a referral is sent to HCAO.
  5. HCAO sends a letter to the parent(s) stating that their child has missed at least 6 days of school and is now considered truant.
     • The parent is directed to attend a parent group lecture format meeting, where an attorney explains compulsory attendance laws and consequences of further absenteeism.
     • An Outreach Worker Liaison (an OWL) is assigned to help the family with barriers which are preventing school attendance.
  6. If the child accrues 3 additional unexcused absences, the school sends an educational neglect report to Child Protection.
  7. HCAO sends another letter to parents scheduling a School Team Attendance Review (STAR) meeting

     to develop a plan so that nothing gets in the way of their child attending school.

8. The plan is monitored and the family supported through this transition period.
9. If the child continues to miss school, a second CP report is sent by the school. A CP investigation occurs and a CHIPs petition may by filed.

VI. Education for Success  program- The Evaluation*

• What extent did the program reduce absenteeism?
  • 42% reduction in students’ unexcused absence rate held for 60 school days after the letter was sent. This reduction of unexcused absences had a rate of 37% at 90 school days.
  • Unexcused absence rates increased for a comparison group of similar students at schools without the Education for Success program over a comparable time period.

VII. A-Grad: Accelerating Graduation by Reducing Achievement               Disparities

In October 2006, Hennepin County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution (A-GRAD) to embark on a 20 year collaborative effort to ensure that Hennepin County youth graduate from high school.

Comments from the A-GRAD Advisory Board Report:

• In 2005, approximately 8500 students graduated from Hennepin County high schools. That same year, 2000 9^th -12^th graders dropped out.
• Every year there is one high school dropout for every four high school graduates.
• Children of color fare worse than their white peers
• In purely economic terms, the consequences of this failure are stark.  Minnesota dropouts in 2007 will cost the state almost $3.9 billion over their lifetime.
• This is both morally and economically unacceptable.

I encourage all of us to commit to finding ways to fight for kids to spend their time in school and not in detention centers.

President Barack Obama said in his address to the joint session of Congress, 2/24/2009, “[W]hatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It's not just quitting on yourself, it's quitting on your country - and this country needs and values the talents of every American.”