A program aimed at ending truancy in Montgomery County Public Schools has received funding from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance that allows the program to continue, Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin announced Friday.
The program, which was started at Key Middle School in Silver Spring, has students meet with judges over 10 weeks to determine why the student is missing school.
Participation is also voluntary for the judges, students and their families. In addition to the student and a judge, each meeting also is attended by a team of school representatives and a coordinator from the University of Baltimore’s School of Law.
In the spring 2011 semester, 86 percent of the participants at Key Middle School at a pilot program at Neelsville Middle School in Germantown graduated from the program. Absences decreased by 54 percent and tardiness by 67 percent during the program, and in the 10-week period after the program ended, participants averaged 52 percent fewer absences and 52 percent fewer tardy reports.
“Students who may not otherwise listen to an adult, will often sit up and take notice when they appear before a judge,” said Ervin, D-Silver Spring.
The program is a partnership that includes the University of Baltimore School of Law, the State’s Attorney’s Office for Montgomery County and Montgomery County Public Schools.
