Berks County Truancy Program

With one of the highest habitual truancy and dropout rates in the state, the county decided to bring together a coalition of county agencies, service agencies, school district personnel, and other interested parties to look at developing a county funded program to address these issues. Expected to begin in January of 2012, the Berks County Truancy Program will enable schools and Magisterial District Judges to refer habitual truants to the program, which will provide assessment, case management, and mentoring to the students in an attempt to identify the causes of their truancy and develop a plan to get them back into school on a regular basis. This program, funded by the Juvenile Probation Office and Children and Youth Services, will be able to serve approximately 150 students this school year and is expected to expand and serve up to 300 students in 2012-2013.