CCE
Text Size:

CCE Led Training on the New Truancy Law and the Court

*Training Materials Packet Now Available* 

 

On March 28th, the Council for Court Excellence organized and facilitated a half day training on “The DC Accountability Amendment Act of 2013”: What You Need to Know about Truancy and the Court.  The Family Court Training Committee of DC Superior Court hosted the training in the court’s Jurors’ Lounge where more than 100 attendees participated including judges, case intake court personnel, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and other interested stakeholders.  Participants learned about the new truancy law and what is required by the schools before referring a truancy case to the Family Court Social Services Division (FCSSD) and the DC Office of the Attorney General. 

The training program involved representatives from the court, OAG, advocates for DC youth, and the schools.  Presenters included Andrea Allen, Director of Student Attendance at DC Public Schools; Adrianne Day, Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the General Counsel for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE); Kortne Edogun, Interim Policy Director for the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education at OSSE; Eddie Ferrer, Legal & Policy Director at DC Lawyers for Youth; Pauline Francis, Acting Program Manager for Juvenile Intake Services and Delinquency Branch, FCSSD, DC Superior Court; Lisa Geis, Clinical Instructor and Supervising Attorney at UDC David A. Clarke School of Law; Rashida Kennedy, Manager of the Equity and Fidelity Assurance Team at Public Charter School Board; Dave Rosenthal, OAG; and Joe Tulman, Professor of Law at UDC, David A. Clarke School of Law.   

CCE’s School Discipline Project Committee, chaired by DC Superior Court Magistrate Judge Diane Brenneman, first explored the idea of this training last fall when FCSSD and OAG began seeing a significant increase in the number of truancy cases referred for prosecution by DC schools, following the passage of this new truancy law.  Project Committee members Dave Rosenthal and Professor Joe Tulman, worked with CCE staff in convening a small working group to develop this training to offer a better understanding of what the law says, how the law should be applied and to address the case volume issue on the front-end.    

For more information about this training, please contact, evans@courtexcellence.org.

 

 
Copyright ©2011-2012 The Council for Court Excellence. All rights reserved.