Superior schools, police guide truants back to school

Superior police teamed up with the Superior School District to locate 23 missing high school students last month.

Project Truancy is the first collaboration of its kind in Superior. Launched Sept. 13, it included five days of police investigation. Officers were provided with contact information for 40 students who were identified as no-shows or truant. Then officers started making house calls.

By knocking on doors, talking to neighbors and offering police escorts, officers brought 23 students back to Superior High School. Of those, 16 have begun to attend class regularly, according to Superintendent Jay Mitchell.

"In my mind, it's a good thing," he said.

In Wisconsin, school districts are tasked with tracking students throughout their education. When children transfer to another district or start home schooling, schools must document the change.

"If we don't know where some kids are, that goes against us," Mitchell said. "If we can't find truants, they become dropouts."

Students coded as dropouts, even if they may have just been tracked incorrectly, count against the school's graduation rate. In the past five years, that rate has fluctuated from 92 percent to a low of 81 percent in 2006.

"Our staying on top of this will help the graduation rate," said Superior High School Principal Kent Bergum.

"We're being more proactive," Mitchell said.

Before Project Truancy, the district had 63 high school students listed as no-shows or truant, 23 of whom are no longer in the district. That left 40 mysteries to solve.

"It's difficult for somebody in this school district to go out and find kids," Mitchell said. "We don't have a truancy officer."

So they called local law enforcement late in August.

"We were happy to help," said Capt. Charles LaGesse of the Superior Police Department.

Four officers spent 24 hours making house calls. The cost, paid by the district, was a little more than $1,000.

"It more than paid for itself," Mitchell said.

The extra 23 students, who were included in the district's third Friday count, will net $200,000 for the district, 70 percent of which is paid by the state. In the bigger picture, the entire community benefits.

"There's such a social cost in somebody dropping out of school," LaGesse said. "The cost expended to try to get them back to school is well worth it."

District administrators have planned face-to-face talks with the returning students to discuss education options.

"Some of these kids aren't going to graduate under the regular program," Mitchell said.

"How do you really reach out to all students in individual ways?" Bergum asked.

The district has been working on educational flexibility, with alternatives such as taking classes at the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College or getting a general education diploma.

"Our goal is to create success for these students," Mitchell said.

To access the options, however, students have to attend school. If they don't, LaGesse said, there's a chance a police officer will knock on their door.