The Children’s Corner
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senteeism. Other schools offer little or no
direct support. Some schools do not distinguish between excused and unexcused
absences, despite Agency of Education
guidance requiring them to do so,21 while
other schools have very clear distinctions.
Schools also have different consequences
for truancy, such as being dropped off the
school roster,22 detention and suspension,
losing credits required for graduation,23
being dropped from classes, and referral
to DCF.24 Schools even have widely differing policies on the exact number of missed
days required to be deemed “truant.”
Starting in 2014, at the direction of Vermont Legal Aid, a team of Northeastern
Law School students began investigating
Vermont’s truancy system to determine
how and why Vermont should address
chronic absenteeism without a court-first
approach. In a 130-page report, the team
details the statutory scheme, state and local policies, service gaps, needs of young
people, and impact of truancy policies on
vulnerable populations. Based upon legal,
policy, and social research, as well as interviews with Vermont stakeholders, the report concludes with specific recommendations for the Vermont legislature, Agency of
Education, Vermont judiciary, and schools.
Most important among these recommendations, is that Vermont create a statewide
system to address truancy that is oriented
towards the best interests of the child. To
do this, the Northeastern team suggests
that Vermont establish standard definitions
for excused and unexcused absences, create comprehensive model policies that include pre-court school- or communitybased interventions, implement consistent
useful data collection around absenteeism,
and fund truancy diversion programs in every county. In addition, Vermont Legal Aid
recommends requiring schools to provide
documentation of attempted intervention services, reasons why the absenteeism is not justified, and confirmation that
a disability is not a substantial cause of the
child’s absenteeism before a truancy petition can be filed.
In addition to a variety of projects, policies, and statutes across the country, there
are several homegrown mode