Score: +1 (1/0/0)
Orange County Grand Jury • 2003-2004

Combating Truancy in Orange County*

61 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 25 findings

F1
of attendance matters and lack explicit expectations for students' attendance: Anaheim City • Buena Park • Centralia • Cypress • Fullerton Joint Union High School • Fullerton School La Habra City School • Magnolia School • Newport-Mesa Unified • Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified • Santa Ana Unified School • Moreover, the Web sites for Centralia and Magnolia do not address attendance at all.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
an enhanced treatment of attendance matters that includes explicit expectations for students' attendance: Anaheim City Buena Park Centralia • Cypress • Fullerton Joint Union High School Fullerton • La Habra City • Magnolia Newport-Mesa Unified • Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified • Santa Ana Unified (Finding 1)
F2
While the Web sites for the following school districts provide attendance expectations for individual schools: Fountain Valley Huntington Beach City • Laguna Beach Unified • Ocean View Westminster there are no statements of expectations for the districts as a whole. The Web sites of the Capistrano Unified School District and the Orange
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Each of the following school districts: Fountain Valley • Huntington Beach City Laguna Beach Unified • Ocean View • Westminster add to their respective Web sites, statements of attendance expectations for the district as a whole. (Finding 2)
F3
Unified School District are outstanding in providing clear and explicit state- ments of attendance expectations. The Ocean View School District has recognized that school districts that
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Capistrano Unified and Orange Unified school districts continue to provide clear and explicit statements of attendance expectations on their respective Web sites, and Capistrano Unified mentor any other school districts that would like to emulate Capistrano Unified's outstanding Web site. (Finding 3) Ocean View School District continue to use its outstanding Attendance
F4
reward and celebrate good attendance demonstrate improvements in Average Daily Attendance (ADA) that more than make up for the expenses of awards and public relations. Ocean View has adopted an outstanding Attendance Incentive Plan, approved by its Board of Trustees, that has separate lists of incentives in place at the district and at the school levels. Attendance-incentive programs work not only at the elementary and middle-
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Incentive Plan, approved by its Board of Trustees, that has separate incentives in place at the district and school levels to reward and celebrate good attendance, and Ocean View mentor any other school districts that would like to emulate Ocean View's outstanding Attendance Incentive Plan. (Finding 4) Irvine Unified School District continue to use its successful attendance-
F5
school levels, but - given the right incentives or rewards - at the high-school Irvine Unified School District successfully uses attendance level, also. incentives at all levels. The rewards are valued by the students and help to keep attendance levels high. -31 - Because attendance incentives in the Centralia School District are devised and
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
incentive program, and any school districts that do not currently have an -36 - attendance-incentive program - particularly at the high-school level - adopt one. (Finding 5)
F6
put in place by the individual schools, the district does not get involved. Los Alamitos Unified School District does not explicitly encourage good
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
Centralia School District become fully aware of the attendance incentives currently in place at its schools, and provide leadership to its schools in setting standards for, and supervising, attendance-incentive programs throughout the district. (Finding 6) Los Alamitos Unified School District fill the void in its truancy-abatement
F7
attendance, and the district's expectation of good attendance is not directly communicated to the district's students. In 2002-03, only 10 of the 27 school districts were represented on the County 8. (Department of Education) SAR Board. In 2003-04, that number has increased by one to 11. Membership on the County SAR Board is open to all County school districts, and all school districts – even those without SAR Boards – would benefit by their participation. The Orange County Superintendent of Schools / Department of Education has
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
program by formulating and putting in place an explicit program to encourage good attendance. (Finding 7) The Orange County Superintendent of Schools / Department of Education
F8
(Department of Education) SAR Board. In 2003-04, that number has increased by one to 11. Membership on the County SAR Board is open to all County school districts, and all school districts – even those without SAR Boards – would benefit by their participation. The Orange County Superintendent of Schools / Department of Education has
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
strongly encourage each of the school districts in Orange County — even those without School Attendance Review Boards — to appoint a representative to the County SAR Board and to participate more fully in County SAR Board activities. (Findings 8 and 9) La Habra City, Magnolia, Santa Ana Unified and Westminster school districts
F9
not done enough to encourage all of the school districts to participate on the County SAR Board. However, on March 4, 2004, the Department of Education did send all school districts an open invitation to attend any or all County SAR Board meetings.
No recommendations for this finding
F10
The percentage of habitual truants referred to a SAR Board in the following school districts is unacceptably low: La Habra City 1.5% 0.2\% NOTE 3 Magnolia Santa Ana Unified 4.4% 1.2% Westminster
Related Recommendations (1)
R9
each formulate a corrective-action plan to improve its percentage of habitual truants referred to a SAR Board, beginning with the 2004-2005 school year and continuing thereafter. (Finding 10)
F11
The Centralia, Garden Grove Unified and Laguna Beach Unified school districts do not collect information on habitual truancies and SAR Board referrals at the district levels.
Related Recommendations (1)
R10
Centralia, Garden Grove Unified and Laguna Beach Unified school districts each devise a method to collect data on habitual truancies and information on referrals of habitual truants to a SAR Board, beginning with the 2004-2005 school year and continuing thereafter. (Finding 11)
F12
Cypress School District, Fullerton Joint Union High School District and Saddleback Valley Unified School District do not declare any of their truants to be habitual truants. Failure to identify as habitual truants those students who have been truant for three or more times during a school year appears to place those districts out of compliance with the State Education Code.
Related Recommendations (1)
R11
Cypress, Fullerton Joint Union High School and Saddleback Valley Unified school districts each bring itself into compliance with the provisions of the California Education Code by identifying habitual truants, beginning with the 2004-2005 school year and continuing thereafter. (Finding 12)
F13
Huntington Beach Union High School District's self-described "out of control" and "epidemic" truancy situation is due only in small part to the lack of a SAR Board, but primarily to the lack of centralized attendance monitoring and control and to fragmented responsibility at the district level.
Related Recommendations (1)
R12
Huntington Beach Union High School District centralize attendance monitor- ing and control at the district level, and assign ultimate responsibility for attendance monitoring and control to a single individual. (Finding 13)
F14
Some school districts believe: that SAR Boards are ineffective, particularly at the high-school level; that SAR Boards are "a lot of work for no consequences at the D.A. level;" and that threats of SARB intervention and consequences that -32- are not reinforced by the District Attorney's office make the efforts of a SARB hollow and ineffective.
Related Recommendations (1)
R13
The Orange County Superintendent of Schools / Department of Education respond to a school district's perception that "SAR Boards are a waste of time at the high-school level." The District Attorney respond to school districts' views that "SAR Boards are a lot of work for no consequences at the DA level" and that "when SARB interventions and consequences are not reinforced by the District Attorney's Office, efforts of the SARBs become hollow and ineffective." (Finding 14) -37 -
F15
School districts that limit or curtail their participation on the County SAR Board because of budgetary constraints may not be aware of the opportunity for reimbursement, through State or federal funding, afforded by Education Code §48323.
Related Recommendations (1)
R14
All Orange County school districts become aware of the opportunity for reim- bursement through State or federal funding, afforded by California Education Code §48323, for participating on the County SAR Board. (Finding 15)
F16
Centralia School District has no permanent SAR Board members at the district level.
Related Recommendations (1)
R15
Centralia School District consider adopting a district-level SAR Board and appointing permanent SAR Board members at the district level. (Finding 16)
F17
School districts repeatedly identified three particular skills as being essential if SAR Boards are to be effective: law-enforcement skills (e.g., a School Resource Officer), prosecutorial skills (e.g., a Deputy District Attorney), and probation skills (e.g., a Probation Officer). Yet, more often than not, these skills are not present at district SAR Board meetings.
Related Recommendations (1)
R16
The Probation Department and the District Attorney improve the operational effectiveness of district-level SAR Boards by assigning, respectively, a Probation Officer and a Deputy District Attorney to attend SAR Board meetings in those school districts that request such participation. (Finding 17)
F18
Centralia School District stated that it does not know if its SARB-referral documentation packages are adequate because the paperwork is handled by social workers at the school sites.
Related Recommendations (1)
R17
Centralia School District assign responsibility for the content and quality of SARB-referral documentation packages to an individual at the district level. (Finding 18)
F19
Periodic training of school administrators in preparing SARB-referral docu- mentation packages would be beneficial.
Related Recommendations (1)
R18
The District Attorney provide for the periodic training of school administrators in preparing SARB-referral documentation packages. (Finding 19)
F20
Santa Ana Unified School District's statement that periodic training of school administrators in preparing SARB-referral documentation packages is not necessary because clerical personnel do the work appears to underestimate the important and critical role that school administrators play in the SARB NOTE 5 process.
Related Recommendations (1)
R19
Santa Ana Unified School District ensure that school administrators are properly trained to prepare SARB-referral documentation. (Finding 20)
F21
School districts that have chosen to embrace the Truancy Response Project have experienced significant improvements in their truancy problem and increased awareness among parents and students of the importance of regular attendance.
Related Recommendations (1)
R20
School districts that are not involved in the Truancy Response Project become involved as a means to significantly improve their truancy problems and to increase awareness among parents and students of the importance of regular attendance. (Finding 21)
F22
School districts repeatedly identified a Deputy District Attorney, a law- enforcement officer and a Probation Officer as three key people who should make presentations to habitually truant students and their parent(s) at the District Attorney's Community Meetings. Yet, more often than not, neither a law-enforcement officer nor a Probation Officer is present at such meetings.
Related Recommendations (1)
R21
The Probation Department provide for having Probation Officers participate in the Truancy Response Project by making presentations to habitually truant students and their parents at the District Attorney's Community Meetings. (Finding 22)
F23
In each of the four school years studied, five of the school districts without SAR Boards were slightly more successful at controlling attendance, on average, than 15 of the school districts with SAR Boards. -33 -
Related Recommendations (1)
R22
The Department of Education identify factors that might account for five school districts without SAR Boards being slightly more successful at controlling attendance, on average, than 15 school districts with SAR Boards. (Finding 23)
F24
A need exists among the school districts that do not have their own SAR Boards for an operating SAR Board (not just an advisory or networking SAR Board) at the County level.
Related Recommendations (1)
R23
The Department of Education establish an operating SAR Board (not just an advisory or networking SAR Board) to meet the needs of those school districts that do not have their own SAR Boards. (Finding 24)
F25
Truancy support by the Probation Department and the District Attorney's Office needs to be fully funded if these organizations are to be as effective as the school districts would like them to be. Responses to Finding 1 are required from the Superintendents of Schools of the following school districts: Anaheim City • Buena Park • Centralia •
Related Recommendations (1)
R24
The Department of Education formulate a plan whereby all school districts provide equitable financial support to the Probation Department and the District Attorney's Office to ensure that these agencies are able to continue the -38 - truancy-abatement services for which the districts are the financial beneficiaries. (Finding 25) Responses to Recommendation 1 are required from the Superintendents of Schools of the following school districts: Anaheim City • Buena Park • • Centralia

Agency Responses 31

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.