When it comes to educational neglect and truancy, Associate Circuit Judge John Bloodworth and Poplar Bluff R-1 Attendance Officer Misty Dodson know firsthand the underlying causes. They say many times attendance issues are rooted in problems within the home, whether the cause is drug use, physical abuse, or simply the result of overwhelmed parents who can't gain control.
Bloodworth and Dodson said thanks to Truancy Court, a program entering it's seventh year in Butler County, the stories of countless students at Poplar Bluff R-1 have been rewritten to feature a better ending.
"We collaborate with the Division of Family Services Children's Division and when they go in the home, what do you think they find? More often than not, drugs." said Bloodworth, who presides over the court.
Bloodworth said approximately one-third of children currently in Truancy Court have been relocated because "it was so bad that we couldn't keep kids in the home."
"A little kid that's not going to school, what chance do they have in life," he added.
In 2010, school and court officials of the 36th Judicial Circuit, including Bloodworth, shared a common goal aiming to reduce chronic absenteeism in the public school system. The result was implementation of Truancy Court, a program designed to ensure regular school attendance through ongoing and regular court supervision in Butler and Ripley counties.
Initially six districts participated; Poplar Bluff, Doniphan, Twin Rivers, Neelyville, Naylor, and Lone Star. Schools located in each county planned to share expense based on the percentage of students each school served, but for five of the districts, the benefits failed to outweigh the costs according to recent statements from administrators. The fee pays for a juvenile officer to be assigned to the program in each county.
Poplar Bluff R-1 continues to utilize the program, with Dodson citing various benefits she has seen during her tenure as attendance officer. Though the decrease in school participation has caused the district to take on the entirety of its expense in Butler County, meaning a $59,000 cost, Poplar Bluff R-1 Board of Education President John Scott said the considerable amount of benefits are "well worth the cost."
"Attendance is the foundation for student success," Scott said. "If kids aren't in school, they don't learn and they fall behind. We see dramatic improvement from many students who were destined to fail and are now doing well in school. If we can save one child through Truancy Court, it is well worth the cost."
Dodson, who monitors attendance for Poplar Bluff's student body of more than 5,000, said in the seven years since Truancy Court began, 75 children have been placed in foster care as a direct result of the relationship and 335 referrals have been made to DFS for either truancy, when a student chooses not to attend school on his or her own behalf, or educational neglect, when a parent fails to provide a child's basic needs regarding education.
Dodson said more than 50 percent of students involved in the program have seen an increase in grades and a decrease in discipline referrals.
"I do a watch list of our top attendance issues," she said. "Before we ever go to this process, I try to fix the problem by working with the families to find what the problem is so we can correct it. If I'm not successful in doing that, without Truancy Court, I would have nothing to further address that issue. Truancy Court helps me enforce things. It's the teeth so to speak."
Bloodworth said he receives no additional financial benefits from overseeing the court, but a passion for changing lives is what drives his participation.
"It's really a great collaborative program that brings the school and the courts together," he said. "It feels wonderful when you get a kid back in school and they're doing well and they're enjoying being in school. You've changed a life and that makes for considerable job satisfaction."
Bloodworth said a long-term effect of the program is that eventually, it will save society money. He asked what chance students have without a high school education and followed it up by simply stating, welfare. He said initially, he'd hoped Truancy Court would help the school districts earn enough money through increased federal funding based on higher attendance rates to cover the cost, but said, so far, it hasn't happened.
"The program does not pay for itself; we do not get enough kids back in school to pay for the program, which in the beginning, I hoped we would," Bloodworth said. "But, our delinquency rates have plummeted."
Dr. Jennifer Snyder, superintendent of Doniphan R-1, said the Doniphan and Lone Star school districts stopped using Truancy Court during the 2016-17 academic year. She said administrators will take the initiative to stay on top of attendance issues and will continue to make referrals to the juvenile office when cases arise.
"Of course, it's easier to accomplish this with a juvenile officer there, " Snyder said.
Doniphan, located in Ripley County, paid $48,430 while Lone Star contributed $7,100 to fulfill the nearly $56,000 tab. Synder said the hefty price tag was just too much for the small district, which serves approximately 1,600 students.
"It came down to the fact that we needed to hire another classroom teacher," Snyder said. "It was primarily Doniphan paying for it and we decided to make more effective use of the funds."
Snyder said part of the success of Truancy Court relies on the dedication of the individuals involved. She said during her time with the program, she worked with juvenile officers who were proactive, and others who were not.
"It's the person that really makes or breaks the program," she said.
Neelyville Superintendent Brad Hagood said the decision to discontinue Truancy Court also was financial, and as a school serving roughly 600 students, he felt attendance issues could be handled independently.
"It's not that we were unhappy," Hagood said. "We felt some of the issues we were having we could handle on our own and get the same results for less than what we were paying."
Hagood said the district participated in Butler County's program for 4-5 years and the annual expenditure was just under $8,000.
Bloodworth said to make the program successful in Butler County, a strong use of sanctions and incentives are utilized to change behavior, which he said has been an effective tool. He also said reports from teachers are taken under consideration during the twice monthly meetings to measure classroom participation and progress.
"We have a great relationship with Judge Bloodworth, the juvenile office and the children's division," Scott said. "Working together, we are able to help individual students and improve our schools overall."