Truancy
"Becca Bill" and the Seattle School District: Activities in Progress
by: Jim Herring, Truancy Supervisor, Seattle School District
as published in the Fall 1999, Volume 24 issue of "Management Information: School Information and Research Service"
Nestled snugly between the plush Evergreen forests of the Cascade Mountains and the wondrous rain forests of the majestic Olympics, the Seattle School District encompasses the boundaries of the city of Seattle. The reveries of summer activity are still coursing through the minds of young people in the city as they prepare for the upcoming daily tasks of classes and homework.
With a student population of 47,000 in nearly 100 schools and programs, the school year for the Seattle School District lends itself to a plethora of new challenges as the year starts. Teachers, support staff, parent volunteers, and students alike are busily making the preparations for another 180 days of education by preparing materials and schedules for the upcoming months of the school calendar.
A small but significant part of the Seattle School District's staff is tasked with tracking truancy in this largest of Washington State's school districts. With approximately 46,000 students in the Seattle School District this is no small task.
Statistically, Seattle's truancy rate is on par with other districts, according to a 1997/98 audit of school districts by OSPI (Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction). During the audit year, there were over 16,000 students who had at least one day of unexcused absence, meeting the statutory definition of "truancy" under the provisions of the Compulsory Attendance Law, RCW 28A.225 (known as the "Becca Bill"). At a truancy rate of approximately 35% the statutory obligations for this district were incredible, to say the least. A coordinated approach was necessary in order to meet the challenges of the Compulsory Attendance Law requirements. A district-wide policy was established and implemented which affected the approximately 100 schools in this district.
Starting in October 1995, the first year of the ["new"] Compulsory Attendance Law, the Seattle School District filed approximately 300 truancy petitions with the King County Superior Court, Juvenile Division. Due to the high number of cases processed at court in the first year, an incredible amount of cooperation and coordination between the court and school district was necessary. During the first year and in subsequent years since the implementation of the "Becca Bill", the Seattle School District has been the King County district filing the highest number of truancy petitions.
To facilitate in this cooperative process, a truancy coordinator was appointed at the court level and training was implemented for school district personnel to help them understand the needs of the court. In addition, many school districts in King County assigned personnel to specifically address the truancy issues at the schools. A high level of cooperation between the court and the school district was established, and a coordinated approach was developed to attack and reduce the truancy rate.
A centralized truancy office was created to better address the truancy problem in the Seattle School District, and I was hired as the truancy petition supervisor. My role would be to develop procedures for tracking truancy within the district, process truancy petitions with the King County Superior Court, and represent the Seattle School District at the court hearings. In order for me to accomplish these assignments the District committed itself to the overall reduction of "drop-out" and truancy rates.
The efforts spent during the first and second years after implementation of the "Becca Bill" paid off. During the second year (1996/97) school year, the Seattle School District filed more than 1,500 truancy petitions with the King County Superior Court.
In the course of tracking the effectiveness of the court process, it was found that, remarkably, the students who received a court order to attend school complied with the court order. On the average, approximately 80% of the court-ordered students did not have any significant truancy after their order was put in place. There were approximately 3,800 students during this school year that attained the number of days ordinarily qualifying them to receive a truancy petition (7 truant days in a month or 10 truant days in a calendar school year). However, a significant number of students were not subject to a petition due to the court's requirement that interventions (steps taken by the school to help correct truant behavior) be documented prior to filing a petition with the court.
To address this problem, the court staff and I developed a process by which all petition-eligible students would receive a truancy petition., but the court would not schedule a hearing on the petition immediately. Truancy petitions were filed on all eligible students; however, the court delayed acting for a period of time on those needing documentation of interventions. This was accomplished by filing a "Stay Motion" with the petition documents.
The schools were provided with a time deadline to document the interventions implemented for the students. As a result of this cooperative effort between the court and the Seattle School District, more than 2,600 petitions were filed during the 1997/98 school year. Of these, approximately 1000 petitions had full documentation of completed or attempted interventions.
Several interesting statistics were tracked during this time. By comparison, the following improvements occurred between the 1996/97 and the 1997/98 school years:
* Overall, the truancy rate in the District was reduced approximately 17%.
* Approximately 70% of all court-ordered students complied with their orders and had no further significant truancy.
* Of the Stay Motion petitions filed, 80% of these students did not have continuing significant truancy. As a result, they did not require further court action on their petitions.
* 155 "Drop-out" students were returned to a school program.
* The average number of truant days per student prior to the filing of a petition was reduced from 16 days (in the 1996/97 school year) to 12 days (in the 1997/98 school year).
* Cooperative efforts between school districts were increased and student transfers (of petitioned students) between districts in King County were tracked.
* A better means of tracking and documenting interventions at the school was developed.
* School administrators began reporting that some of the students could be overheard talking in the hallways about how they "were not going to skip any more, because they'll have to go to court if they do."
In the 1998/99 school year, the court required that truancy petitions be filed only with documentation of interventions. The improvements within the school district to train school staff members in accurately documenting the interventions, as well as coordinated approaches to providing additional interventions for truant students paid off. During the 1998/99 school year, the Seattle School District filed over 1,500 petitions. All of these petitions documented interventions or attempts to assist the students in correcting truant behavior. The steps taken to provide additional training and support resulted in a full 50% increase in the number of documented interventions for students.
Disturbingly, there were still approximately 2,000 students who attained the requisite number of truant days for a petition who were not petitioned. To address this, significant changes are being made for the upcoming 1999/2000 school year. Modifications to the computer database are being planned, additional training is slated for school staff, and a better coordination of efforts has been established to meet the challenge.
With a dedication to maintaining the past level of support and service at the court level, the truancy and "drop-out" rates for the Seattle School District should be markedly reduced yet again.
Our goal is to enable all of the students in our district to attend an educational program, which will enlighten their minds and provide them with an environment to grow and expand their abilities. Students will continue to be supported and their families assisted as Seattle passes through its fall, winter, and spring seasons.
To obtain copies of this issue, which contains this and other informative articles on the implementation of Washington State's Becca Bill, contact Barbara Mertens at SIRS, (800) 859-9272, or e-mail at chuggins@wasa-oly.org
Additional information on the effect of the "Becca Bill" can be found at the following links:
"Policies to Assist At-risk or Runaway, Chemically Dependent Youth", by the Univ. of Washington
Washington State Institute for Public Policy is a source of invaluable information dealing with issues of truancy and educational programs in Washington State.
For information on how truancy is a major problem in this country, both for youth and society, you can obtain the following publications or manuals:
* National Dropout Prevention Center / Network
* Truancy: First Step to a Lifetime of Problems
* Reaching Out to Youth Out of the Educational Mainstream
* "At-Risk Youth in Crisis: A Handbook for Collaboration Between Schools and Social Services", (volume 5 /Attendance Services) $7.40 + $4.00 postage and handling. To order, call (514) 346-5044, or, write to: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management; University of Oregon, 1787 Agate Street, Eugene, OR 97403
* "Increasing Student Attendance" (NSSC Resource Paper), $5.00 + $3.00 postage and handling. To order, call (805) 373 9977, or write to: National School Safety Center (NSSC), 141 Deusenberg Dr., Westlake Village, CA 91362.
Want to know how you can help?
* Become a parent volunteer at your school.
* Join your local PTSA group.
* Find out what your child's school is doing to address the truancy problem.
* Volunteer as a hall monitor at your child's school for even as little as 1 hour per week.
* Get involved!!
*Be aware of what's happening with your school system and your child's teachers.
(are "Standards of Learning" expectations really the answer? For a teacher's perspective, click here.)
You CAN make a difference!!
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