Don’t forget the ‘Right Now’ kids

by Leigh Dalton
Director
York County Truancy Prevention Initiative

My job has me working on two parallel paths: one to address student risk factors identified in the Pennsylvania Youth Survey; the other to reduce truancy and improve graduation rates. I’ve been doing this for about a year now, and I’ve had a lot of conversations about education policy and community support programs. What works and what doesn’t? What does York County need? What age group should be our focus?

Many new strategies in Pennsylvania and York County focus resources at the early years, from birth to third grade. But we also have to remember the 15- and 16-year-olds who are getting ready to become adults. Many of these youth live a life that has already made them adults at 15, if not earlier. So though it might make sense to write about the newest, best intervention or strategy that steers that largest segment of youngsters back on the right path, I am compelled to remind people not to ignore the kids who need help right now – our teens.

The York County Truancy Prevention Initiative is finalizing its five-year strategic plan, incorporating feedback from the Truancy Summit held in September. And while, as a prevention initiative, it is vital that we focus on the early years, I remind folks that we want our youth to graduate and become productive, happy citizens of our community. To make sure the graduating class of 2011 achieves this, we must intervene now and prevent some of these students from dropping out.

The York County Truancy Prevention Initiative understands that the most successful factor in keeping a child in school emanates from a consistent relationship with a caring adult. If those of us attending the summit didn’t know beforehand, certainly we learned that relationships matter; all of our youth panelists echoed this reality. Another common trait among the youth on the summit panel was the use of their own talents to help others.

The Truancy Prevention Initiative is considering – among many other intervention strategies – starting a York County Youth Court to serve as an alternative to the traditional district court system that oversees truancy proceedings. Youth Court will empower youth and communities to take an active role in addressing truancy. Youth Courts function using a peer-operated sentencing mechanism that constructively allows the truant to take responsibility, be held accountable and make restitution. In addition, Youth Court offers young people in the community the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process for dealing with truancy, while gaining hands-on knowledge of the legal system.

While all this is happening, the York County Communities That Care Community Board is developing data-driven priorities to address risk factors affecting our youth. The risk factors are identified in the Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS), taken every other year by students in 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th grades. York County Communities That Care is implementing the CTC process to achieve the county’s goal of promoting a healthy community with responsible, respectful, resilient youth. The CTC Community Board is writing the Community Action Plan and will be releasing it soon. The payoff on the CTC process will take awhile. In five or 10 years, as we continue to administer the PAYS, we should begin to see improved results for measures such as the number of kids doing drugs or experiencing painful family conflict.

Until then, we can’t forget the “Right Now” kids. Let’s make sure they have the mentors, the career training, the resources, and whatever else they need to keep them on a path to graduation and prepare them for their adult lives. If you would like to know how you can be involved, please contact me. We have plenty of opportunities. And soon you’ll be able to keep up with our work online: the nearly completed York County Truancy Prevention Web site will be up and running at http://www.yorktruancyprevention.org/.

- Leigh Dalton

Leigh Dalton is the director of the York County Truancy Prevention Initiative and the community mobilizer for York County Communities That Care. After receiving her law degree from the University of Baltimore, School of Law, she managed a truancy intervention program called the Truancy Court Program. She is pursuing her doctorate in education policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She lives in Spring Garden Township with her husband, baby daughter and her two rescued dogs. She can be reached at leigh@yorkbar.com and 717-854-8755, ext. 209.