New state law improving truancy rates in Greene County schools

A new state law aimed at reducing truancy in public schools means officials are working more with students and parents before a complaint is filed in juvenile court.

Passage of H.B. 410 has redefined what it means to be truant and has put the onus on school districts to work with parents in identifying and removing barriers to their children attending school.

The change appears to be working in Greene County.

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Truancy rates were rising over the last four years until there was a sharp drop last year, when H.B. 410 went into effect, according to records provided by Greene County Juvenile Court.

The records show truancy filings increased from 2013 to spring 2017, with an average of 155 filings per year. That number dropped to 84 last school year.

Xenia Community Schools led the county with 925 truancy filings from 2000-17, and Fairborn City Schools was next with 341, according to the records.

Xenia schools saw a significant drop from an average of 91 filings per year in recent years to only 46 last school year, according to the records.

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Xenia Superintendent Gabriel Lofton said a shift to supporting the things students should be doing instead of constantly punishing what they shouldn’t has helped.

“(The new system) improves academic outcomes for all students,” Lofton said. “Rather than telling students what not to do, our schools focus on preferred behaviors and expectations when working with students.”

Xenia has also attempted new technologies in battling truancy with the introduction of a mobile app that is meant to motivate their students to attend school. The app is the result of a collaborative effort among the juvenile court, Ohio Supreme Court and the Ohio Department of Education, Lofton said.

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Under H.B. 410, a student is considered excessively absent if he or she misses at least 38 hours of school in a month or at least 65 hours in a year, whether or not the absences are excused. A student is habitually truant if he or she is absent without an excuse for at least 30 hours consecutively, 42 in a month or 72 in a year.

When a student is excessively absent, schools must notify the parents in writing within seven days and may refer them to community resources that might help their child get to school.

When a child is labeled habitually truant, schools will form an “absence intervention team,” and truant students will be given an intervention plan. If the student continues to be excessively absent for 61 days, the district may then file a complaint with juvenile court.

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Brandi Noe is one of three truancy interventionists who work with families in the seven districts and three alternative schools in Greene County.

Noe, who covers truancy issues in Xenia schools and at the career center, said districts in Greene County worked with the juvenile court to create the three positions in an effort to comply with state law.

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Noe said intervention plans may include parent education and programming, counseling and supportive services for students.

“The team of truancy interventionists’ aim is to serve schools, students, and families to reduce barriers that contribute to non-attendance,” Noe said. “The TIs are taking a preventative approach regarding truancy by working with the schools to develop lists of students who have not yet met the threshold for habitual truancy but have unexcused absences consecutively or during the month.”


Total truancy filings for public schools in Greene County

84: 2017-18

228: 2016-17

219: 2015-16

138: 2014-15

107: 2013-14

Source: Greene County Juvenile Court

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