Stories tagged: truancy
High school students tackle truancy with media campaign
by Jenny Seng Posted in February 2010 Edition | Permalink
Members of the District’s Student Truancy Task Force launched a public awareness campaign in January focused on bringing kids back to school.
Called T.A.C.K.L.E. TRUANCY (Time and Commitment are Keys to Loving Education), the student-led campaign kicked off with radio and newspaper ads calling for students to recommit themselves to their education.
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New program, planned for 20 schools, will be citywide
by Dale Mezzacappa Posted in Winter 2009 Edition | Permalink
Superintendent Arlene Ackerman has embraced the framework known as Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) as an approach to improving school climate in Philadelphia, embedding the program in her strategic plan, Imagine 2014, and decreeing that all schools adopt its key elements.
This is both good news and bad news for the people who have worked the hardest to bring PBS to the city since even before Ackerman arrived.
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Fines for truancy: another band-aid on a gaping wound
Submitted by Eric Braxton on Wed, 04/29/2009 - 10:15 Posted in High schools | Permalink
The city is about to start issuing fines to parents whose students skip school. I know a lot of people like this plan. They say it will help catch the attention of parents. They say we need to hold parents accountable. While I think those ideas are fine, and I’m not that worried that $25 fines are going to ruin anyone, my reaction is, is this really the best we can come up with to solve a major crisis in our city?
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'Going small'
by Dale Mezzacappa Posted in Spring 2009 Edition | Permalink
Compared to peers in comparable large schools, students in small neighborhood high schools pass algebra at higher rates and are suspended for bad behavior less frequently, according to a new report by the local nonprofit Research for Action (RFA).
In addition, both teachers and students at these small neighborhood schools report feeling safer and more positive about the learning environment than their counterparts at the larger schools.
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Breaking the silence: Teachers look for help
Submitted by Alesha Jackson on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 12:42 Posted in Class notes | Permalink
An email this week came to me by way of a local classroom teacher, whose professional community is threatened by the actions—or inaction—of their recently-appointed school leader.
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Getting a handle on truancy takes more than getting tough
by Toni Callas Posted in Spring 2007 Edition | Permalink
When parents in Jacksonville, Fla. were asked whether they knew their child's chronic truancy could land them in jail, most said they knew the rules.
It's the reason many said they were motivated to get their child into the classroom at almost any cost.
Philadelphia educators and Mayor John Street are hoping they will get the same response from parents as new measures, including a tougher threat of incarceration, are put in place to combat an epidemic of truancy.
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Truancy push: Mayor Street targets parents
by Dale Mezzacappa Posted in January 2007 NEWSFLASH | Permalink
As part of its new high-profile effort to combat rampant truancy, the city and the School District are planning their second tough-love session targeting parents whose children repeatedly miss school.
But the related hiring of nearly 400 new parent truant officers - initially targeted for October and then promised for January 1 - is being held up because the city has yet to come up with the funding.
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Wait lists suggest lack of affordable care
by Paul Socolar Posted in Spring 2006 Edition | Permalink
Despite increased funding commitments from both the state and the School District, Philadelphia families are confronting a shortage of quality, affordable child care.
Groups whose access to child care is problematic include teen parents and Latino and Asian families, child care advocates say.
The clearest sign of the child care gap is that there is a wait for virtually every form of free or subsidized child care in Philadelphia.
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Six- and seven-year olds still not all in school
Posted in Spring 2006 Edition | Permalink
Children in Philadelphia, and throughout Pennsylvania, are not mandated to attend school until they reach age eight – generally the time that children are in or just finished with second grade.
State legislation known as House Bill 377, introduced by State Representative James Roebuck, Jr., of Philadelphia, would lower the age to six in Philadelphia alone. An exemption is included in the legislation for children who are home-schooled. This legislation has already passed Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives and is awaiting action by the Senate Education Committee.
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Black and Latino boys disrespected, task force finds
by Dale Mezzacappa
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