Toledo Public Schools launches program to lower truancy rate

8/11/2008

Toledo Public Schools is introducing a program to reduce student truancy.

Today and tomorrow, TPS staff plus officials from Lucas County Juvenile Court and the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services will participate in all-day training sessions for the Truancy Prevention through Mediation Program.

It will be tested in the Woodward High School learning community and include Edgewater, Chase, Lagrange, Ottawa River, Riverside, and Sherman elementary schools. If successful, it will be introduced to other schools next school year, the district said.

The program originally was developed by the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management in conjunction with the Ohio Supreme Court.

It has been introduced in 120 schools across the state and is credited with reducing truancy rates by 21 percent for the 2006-2007 school year, the district said.