BELLOWS FALLS — Outgoing Windham Northeast Supervisory Union Superintendent Johanna Harpster said the district has reached an agreement following the objection of the Grafton/Athens and BFUHS school boards over wording and lack of discretionary option regarding a new requirement to provide truancy reports to the state Department of Children and Families (DCF).
The boards had objected to the “one size fits all” approach to truancy developed by Vermont Commissioner of Education Armando Vilaseca.
According to state law, school attendance is compulsory in Vermont between the ages of 6 and 16. Act 44, which was passed by the Vermont Legislature in 2009, directed Vilaseca to press for the adoption of uniform truancy policies in each of the state's 14 counties.
Harpster said WNESU has been successful in working with school boards, the Windham County States Attorney's office and DCF to come up with a protocol that provides more discretionary power to officials and administrators most closely involved with truancy issues in time to meet the May 1, 2011, deadline.
Harpster said they wanted to avoid the word “truancy,” and the name of the current “Windham County School Attendance Protocol” was acceptable to both objecting bodies, the Grafton/Athens Grammar School, and Bellows Falls Union High School where Harpster said truancy has been a problem.
BFUHS Assistant Principal John Broadley did not return phone calls seeking comment.
All the schools in WNESU have had truancy protocols and policies in place aimed at improving and encouraging a student's experience in school, as well as teams established who address issues that may be behind truancy, such as home life or behavioral issues of a student.
Windham County protocols suggested by Vilaseca were based on Windham Southeast Supervisory Union protocols, and some WNESU principals felt their own established truancy protocols successfully addressed truancy issues, and thus saw no need to change them to fit WSESU's protocols.
Harpster said their Feb. 7 revised “school attendance” protocols, a choice of wording WNESU officials preferred, seem to be acceptable to the objecting parties, and both the state's attorney's office and the DCF officials are on board with the changes.
“We all agreed to come together as a team to work on finding a consistent handling of truancy,” which was the aim of Act 44, so problems can be better identified and addressed, Harpster said. “We understand, but we wanted more discretionary power before bringing a child to the attention of DCF.”
In an earlier interview, Bellows Falls Police Chief Ron Lake, WNESU's Truant Officer, said it was important to “do all we can to get the truant on track before we bring in DCF. Once you get them involved, the courts have to become involved, and there's no way to undo that. It's on their record, [even though juvenile records are sealed].”
Harpster said, “Some kids are legitimately sick. We now have a way to verify illness from a doctor. We don't want to have to send them to DCF if that is truly the case.”
According to new protocols, WNESU truants will not be reported to DCF before the 15-day point. If students have a note from a doctor, the absences will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
“[Our teams] will be meeting monthly with the State's Attorney and DCF to make sure there's consistency in handling truants [to match state laws],” Harpster said.