New partnership aims to reduce Philadelphia truancy

    Each year, the Philadelphia School District, the Family Court and the Department of Human Services spend about $15 million on truancy prevention. But coordination has been lacking.

    Philadelphia school, court and city officials announced a new collaboration aimed at cutting truancy.

    Each year, the Philadelphia School District, the Family Court and the Department of Human Services spend about $15 million on truancy prevention. But coordination has been lacking.

    Now stakeholders say they’re going to work together on a new citywide plan to reduce truancy …and a new Education Support Center to monitor the academic progress of students under D.H.S. care.

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    Mayor Michael Nutter:

    “Our job as adults and especially in public service is to create conditions where every child in the city has the opportunity to grow and reach their God-given potential. It’s a concept that sounds pretty simple and of course is very difficult to achieve at times in a city that faces so many challenges brought on by poverty, educational challenges, lack of opportunity and lack of access – some of which is perpetrated over many, many generations.”

    In Philadelphia, about 74,000 public school students are considered chronically truant. That’s two out of every five students.

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