THE Division of Youth Services’ Juvenile Probation Office on Friday hosted a workshop on combatting truancy in schools.
DYS is one of the components of the School Attendance Review Committee or SARC.
DYS Administrator Vivian Sablan said the workshop, which was held at the Caladium Hall of LaoLao Bay Golf and Resort, was part of an annual inter-agency training for their different programs.
This year, she said, DYS Juvenile Probation Office head Sylvio Ada decided to focus their effort on SARC in collaboration with the Office of the Attorney General and other agencies to clarify each agency’s role and come up with a better plan to be more effective in delivering their services.
The other agencies or groups that are part of SARC are the Public School System, the Child Protective Unit, the Department of Public Safety, and the Coalition of Private Schools.
Also participating in the workshop were representatives from the Office of the AG, the Public Defender’s Office and the Juvenile Court.
OAG Juvenile Prosecutor Carmen V. Borja said they held a working group session to discuss truancy among students.
She said the OAG, in collaboration with the other agencies, including SARC, will start to enforce legal procedures pertaining to truancy, including charging parents with encouraging truancy, which is a misdemeanor or, in some cases, a felony which is also child neglect.
“We are partnering with all the agencies to make sure that we are on the same page,” Borja said.
She said they have procedures in place and will hold parents, schools, agencies and even the OAG accountable.
The Board of Education’s SARC coordinator, Robert Coldeen, said they want to address truancy, chronic absenteeism and disorderly behavior in schools. He said they will try to find ways to streamline and strengthen the approach to improve school attendance.
Soon, he added, they will inform PSS students and their families about the changes that will take effect in the new school year.
He said SARC will also educate families on existing laws related to compulsory school attendance.
Education Commissioner Alfred B. Ada said he was very pleased to see the collaboration among agencies which he describes as “the strength of the Marianas.”
“We are going to do a better job to make sure we inform every family in the CNMI that a child from 5 to 18 years old must be in school and that is non-negotiable,” he added.
Ada thanked the leaders of the agencies involved. “We are responsible, we are the adults and we are taking care of our young human resources,” he said.
Division of Youth Services Administrator Vivian Sablan, center and representatives of the other agencies involved with the School Attendance Review Committee pose for a photo during a break from a workshop at LaoLao Bay Golf Resort on Friday.
