TASK FORCE TO COMBAT HABITUAL STUDENT TRUANCY


[photo, Holmes Hall, Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland] Patricia L. Welch, Ph.D., Chair (chosen by President, Morgan State University)

Appointed by Senate President: Nathaniel J. McFadden

Appointed by House Speaker: Edith J. Patterson

Appointed by President, Morgan State University: Patricia L. Welch, Ph.D.

Appointed by Executive Director, Student Services & Strategic Planning Branch, State Department of Education: Lynne E. Muller, Ph.D.

Appointed by Executive Director, Maryland Center for School Safety: one vacancy


Holmes Hall, Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland, August 2003. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.


Appointed by Executive Director, Advocates for Children & Youth: Elizabeth (Beth) Doory, Esq.

Appointed by Executive Director, Maryland Association of Boards of Education: Edward P. Burroughs III

Appointed by Executive Director, Maryland Association of Community Colleges: Bernard J. Sadusky, Ed.D.

Appointed by Executive Director, Maryland State Education Association: Jonathan E. Schachter

Appointed by President, Maryland Association of Elementary School Principals: Susan M. Myers

Appointed by President, Maryland Parent Teacher Association: Michael B. Sedgwick

Appointed by Executive Director, Public School Superintendents Association of Maryland: Karen A. Couch, Ed.D.

Appointed by President, Maryland Association of Pupil Personnel: Stanley N. Truman, Ph.D.

Appointed by President, Maryland School Counselor Association: Edward Reed

Appointed by President, Maryland School Psychologists' Association: Selina Oliver

Appointed by President, Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals: Gary A. Wasielewski

Appointed by Chief Executive Officer, Y of Central Maryland: Derryck Fletcher

Ex officio: Tiffany Harvey Johnson, Esq., designee of Attorney General; Cheryl D. De Pinto, M.D., designee of Secretary of Health; Brandi L. Stocksdale, designee of Secretary of Human Services; Matthew E. Fonesca, designee of Secretary of Juvenile Services.

Staff: Kelly Crawford; Lesley A. Thompson.

c/o Office of President, Morgan State University
1700 East Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore, MD 21251
(443) 885-3385
e-mail: kelly.crawford@morgan.edu

In July 2016, the Task Force to Combat Habitual Student Truancy formed (Chapter 266, Acts of 2016).

The Task Force was to study and assess first how the structure and effectiveness of the State's truancy courts might be improved; and second, whether chronic student absenteeism influences student truancy rates.

Currently, local school systems track habitually truant students, those who are unlawfully absent for 20 percent, or more, of school days. The Task Force was to identify best practices for recording and maintaining records of student absences and the appropriate time for notifying pupil personnel workers, when a student chronically is absent or habitually truant. To reduce such truancy, the Task Force was to determine how State agencies could work collaboratively towards solutions. Further, the Task Force considered the efficacy of requiring evening high school programs in each school system; changing the current admissions policies for alternative programs; expanding to all counties the Child in Need of Supervision Pilot Program; and allowing school personnel to file with the court Child in Need of Assistance petitions. Finally, the Task Force made recommendations on how best to combat habitual student truancy in Maryland.

Authorization for the Task Force ended June 30, 2018.

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