Crane Foundation Boosts Impact of CFCC's Truancy Court to Citywide Levels
November 20, 2007
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
A three-year, $277,000 grant by the Charles Crane Family Foundation will provide significant leverage for the Truancy Court Program developed by the University of Baltimore School of Law's Center for Families, Children and the Courts. The grant will allow CFCC to introduce the program into more schools and increase its scope, including expansion to a high school and adding a social worker to the Truancy Court Program team. The Truancy Court Program began its third year of operation in September. The Crane Family Foundation has supported the program since its inception in 2004.
CFCC operates the Truancy Court Program in five city schools—Highlandtown Elementary; Calverton Elementary and Middle; and Canton, William Lemmel and Waverly Middle Schools. The program takes a non-punitive approach to resolve truancy issues, bringing together school officials, UB law students, district and circuit court judges, volunteers, parents and truant children in special sessions designed to help families and schools identify and address the reasons underlying a student’s truant behavior. The program is based on an early intervention approach that targets "soft" truants—students with between three and 20 unexcused absences—in elementary and middle schools in order to capitalize on their academic, social and emotional connections to their schools.
Citywide, the number of students who miss more than twenty days of school is 30 percent, or nearly 22,000 out of 73, 000 students.
Barbara Babb, CFCC director and associate professor in the UB School of Law, said the Crane grant will boost the program's effectiveness across the city.
"We are grateful to the Charles Crane Family Foundation for continuing their generous support of our efforts to take on the issue of truancy in the city," Babb said. "We believe this program offers the best chance for reaching those students who, for a variety of reasons, are in danger of losing their incentive to stay in school. They are worth our time and patience; the reason they may be tardy or absent could be as simple as getting them an alarm clock. We believe that addressing the problem in a safe, supportive environment can turn around many of these students and their families."
Specifically, Babb said the Crane grant will be used to pilot the Truancy Court Program in a high school and to add an experienced social worker to CFCC's team. Several high schools already have approached CFCC about implementing the program for ninth graders. The social worker will provide direct services to Truancy Court Program participants and will assist in linking students and their families to community services and resources.
The Truancy Court Program is a partnership among CFCC, the Baltimore City Public School System, the Office of the Mayor of Baltimore City, and the Circuit Court and District Court for Baltimore City.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts and the Merrick School of Business.