By Early Years blogger Julie Blair
The nation鈥檚 seventh largest city鈥擲an Antonio鈥攚ill revamp the way it deals with truants, many of whom begin negative patterns as early as preschool, and it will begin collecting data to gauge how big the problem is in its 15 school districts.
鈥淣o one鈥檚 ever looked at this before,鈥� said Judy K. McCormick, the executive director for the city鈥檚 P16 Plus Council, in an interview, adding that schools do keep numbers on daily absences but never on who is absent.
The announcement was made Friday at a rally launching SA Kids Attend to Win, a public-service campaign kicked off in conjunction with national Attendance Awareness Month.
It is known that children who miss substantial amounts of preschool are much more likely to drop out of high school, said Kathleen Bruck, CEO of the city鈥檚 new Pre-K 4 SA program, which aims to spend $248 million over the next eight years offering high-quality preschool to 22,400 children.
Previously, the approach to truancy has been a negative one, she added.
鈥淵ou get fined and go to court,鈥� Bruck added. 鈥淲ith this approach, a home visit is made. We鈥檒l say, 鈥榃hy do you have trouble getting your child to school?鈥欌��
Families may need a wake-up call or a map to the closest public transportation, Bruck said.
鈥淲e want to help parents realize their role in education and be advocates for their kids,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat will have a long-term impact on school success.鈥�