Rep. Jefferson: What Truancy Officers? Updated X1

May 8th, 2008 at 12:13pm Andrea Zimmermann

Rep. Chuck Jefferson on Wednesday pitched Rockford’s truancy plan to a panel of lawmakers, but he appeared to miss the mark when describing Rockford’s existing anti-truancy program.

Mayor Larry Morrissey’s plan would allow the city to fine the parents of children under the age of 13 — to encourage those parents, in the city’s view, to get their children in school. Rep. Monique Davis, D-Chicago, asked Jefferson what responsibility the Rockford School District to ensure the students are in school.

“Well, I guess that’s one of the problems,” Jefferson said. “We don’t have truancy officers in place; so this is a mechanism to deal with that problem. The truancy officers are no longer available.”

In fact, the School District does have seven truancy officers who deal with elementary and middle school students, said Ed Hayden at the Rockford School District. At the end of Feb. 28, the district hired three truancy officers to work in the high school as well, he said.

Hayden said these truancy officers go by another title — home-school counselors. Until the Feb. 28 meeting, the high school did not have people who dealt solely with truancy, but the seven other workers have been in place for some time, he said.

But Hayden also said dealing with truants is “definitely a part of their job description.” In fact, he said the home-school counselors’ job descriptions recently changed from dealing with chronic truants who have 18 or more unexcused absences to handling truants who have at least four unexcused absences.

Moreover, the School District’s truancy officers have been at the heart of the community’s discussion about its rampant truancy problem in recent months. Morrissey is frustrated with what he views as a lack of information about truants flowing from the School District to his administration. The School District says it does pass the names of repeat truants to the city, but only after its truancy officers first have an opportunity to deal with these students.

Morrissey’s plan also is designed to facilitate the flow of more information from the School District to his administration.

The bill passed committee with an 8-1 vote, and is pending on the House floor. It is not clear when this bill will come up for a vote.

UPDATE 1 by AC

Stephen Katz, the School District’s attorney, said in an e-mail:

We have 10 home school counselors.  Hired 3 more this winter.

Entry Filed under: Chuck Jefferson