Children must go to school!! Studies tell us that serious juvenile offenders begin as habitual truants. This is why the effort to keep children in school is a key component to my comprehensive plan to reduce juvenile crime.

In the fall of 1994, we began the Truancy Arbitration Program (TAP) in Duval and Clay County. TAP is based on a process that has been very beneficial in our Nassau County Office. The goal is to get children back in school and avoid the necessity of arresting their parents.

TAP works in conjunction with the School Board's attendance workers to provide services to students ages six through fifteen. The referral process begins at each individual school.

If a child continues to miss school, we summon parents and students to a TAP hearing conducted in our office. TAP hearings are facilitated by State Attorney volunteers who act as arbitrators for the program.

School social workers also participate in the hearings. If there is a problem, we attempt to rectify it. When appropriate, students are referred for counseling or tutoring. Parents are referred to parenting skills classes. We also refer parents to successful programs, such as Communities in Schools and to local social service agencies for assistance.

After each hearing, the parents and the student are required to sign a performance agreement compelling school attendance. We admonish each child and parent that all legal avenues will be exhausted to insure school attendance, including criminal prosecution of the parents.

Truancy is often the first indicator that a child is headed down the wrong path: an early warning sign of problems that could lead to more serious infractions and negatively affect the rest of his or her life. Studies have shown that approximately three-fourths of incarcerated criminals in the U.S. were habitual truants during their school years.

Truant behavior also impacts families, which must deal with the emotional and legal problems that can result; and businesses, which not only lose millions of dollars each year to juvenile crime committed during school hours but also suffer a loss of productivity from employees with truant children.

Because of truancy's  importance as a gateway behavior to crime and its broad impact on the community, reducing truancy is a key component in preventing juvenile delinquency and enhancing neighborhood safety.

I am committed to reducing truancy. Since we began our initiative in 1998, over two thousand truants and their parents have attended TAP hearings. Over five hundred juveniles or their parents have been ordered to participate in counseling, tutoring programs, or parenting skills classes. Over ninety percent of the students who attend TAP hearings return to school within four days of their hearing.

Our efforts have proven very successful thus far. It is my goal and intention to continue to make every effort to keep our children in school.

For more information click here.

State Attorney's Office
Truancy Arbitration Program
Shelley Grant, Program Director
(904) 630-7554
shelleyg@coj.net