Truancy Court Program in New Collaborative Effort with City Schools, State Juvenile Services Agency
October 2, 2008
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
The University of Baltimore School of Law's Center for Families, Children and the Courts and its growing Truancy Court Program will partner with the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services to provide early intervention and services to truant students under DJS supervision in a new approach called the Truancy Collaborative. This effort, led by state Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Donald DeVore, Baltimore City Public School System CEO Andres Alonso, and District Court Judge and Maryland First Lady Catherine Curran O'Malley, will operate jointly at Patterson High School, focusing on ninth graders. DJS case managers will become part of the existing TCP team, including CFCC staff and UB law students, responsible for identifying and addressing the problems underlying truant behavior.
"This collaboration will ramp up our ability to monitor students’ progress in the program, and it offers us more ways to work with students, their families, teachers and others to help them stay on the path of good school attendance," said Barbara Babb, CFCC director and associate professor in the School of Law. "We are very pleased to be involved in this partnership."
The Truancy Court Program is an innovative, early intervention and non-punitive approach to truant behavior that addresses the root causes of truancy. It is a cooperative venture with the Baltimore City Public School System, the Circuit and District Courts for Baltimore City, and the Mayor's Office to encourage primarily elementary and middle-school students to attend school. O'Malley, a judge in Maryland District Court, has served as a volunteer judge in the TCP since its inception in 2004.
CFCC is operating the TCP in six public schools during the 2008-09 school year: Barclay Elementary and Middle School; Highlandtown Elementary and Middle School; William H. Lemmel Middle School; Steuart Hill Academic Academy (elementary and middle school); Patterson High School; and Walter P. Carter Elementary and Middle School.
More information about the Truancy Collaborative is available here.
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.