Mason County School-Justice Partnership

Members:

Eric Chaney,Juvenile Court Officer [email protected]

Glenn Jackson, Mason County Assistant Prosecutor [email protected]

Judge Jeffery Nellis, Mason County Court [email protected]

Janet Vyse-Staszak, Department of Human Services [email protected]

Objectives :

The goal of the School-Justice Partnership is to ensure that all students in Mason County attend and graduate from High School.

Inputs:

The team has decided that regularly attending school will be defined as not exceeding 10% of their attendance time this will include tardiness and absences.

Mason County currently has resources in the school. Among those resources are; Office Custer, School Truancy Office who serves Ludington area schools, Family Resource Center which currently serves Ludington Schools, there is a planned expansion to Central and Eastern in January. Journey School which is an alternative school meeting the needs of those students that are not able to attend standardized curriculums at the High School. Journey serves those students that are expelled, pregnant, or have behavioral or attendance issues.

Necessary partnerships include the schools, DHS, court, school truancy officer and Juvenile Court officer. The team also acknowledges that at some point the school boards may also play a role and need to be addressed.

Data on school truancy is currently available.

Coordination of truancy issues can occur through the FRC team which meets on a bi-weekly basis and evaluates students’ needs. This team can also address school attendance. The Department of Human Services (DHS) currently has the needed connection with the Superintendents from the three area schools and they meet on a bi-monthly basis. DHS also meets with the coordinator from the Employer Resource Network (ERN) to address work attendance issues that may impact school attendance. The Juvenile Court is also available to address truancy issues. Community Mental Health offers parenting classes that are available to the Juvenile Court upon their request. The court is also engaged in necessary intervention should it be needed. Activities:

The first team evaluation of school attendance will occur in the next 3 months. The team will meet to evaluate available data on truancy. Those students that are not regularly attending will be reviewed with Officer Custer to evaluate what actions have been taken in these cases and what actions are necessary. As necessary the families will be contacted to attend a meeting at the Family Resource Center to evaluate the possible systemic needs that may be contributing to the student not attending. Mason County Eastern has a Dean of Students that can be involved in this process. Mason County Central has an at risk youth advisor, Denise Jones, who will be involved in truancy issues for that district.

The team will evaluate the need for the possibility of restorative practice models on an ongoing basis.

Outputs:

Will be evaluated based on the findings from the next meeting. New community and service groups will be engaged if necessary. Families will be contacted and Family Centered meetings based on family needs and functioning.

Outcomes:

Short Term: Regular school attendance for all children who are not attending for reasons other than excused medical conditions.

Medium Term: Evaluation of increased school attendance over the school year. Have the students that were not regularly attending shown improvement in attendance and school performance. To reduce the number of school related court referrals. To reduce discipline and expulsion rates. The team acknowledges that the intense focus on school truancy may lead to an increase in the areas listed above over the remainder of the school year.

Long Term: That all students in Ludington area schools will graduate from School.