98-200 Resolution No. 98-200
RESOLUTION
AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF A LETTER OF AGREEMENT WITH
THE KANE COUNTY REGIONAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ELGIN,
ILLINOIS, that Joyce A. Parker, City Manager, and Dolonna
Mecum, City Clerk, be and are hereby authorized and directed to
execute a Letter of Agreement on behalf of the City of Elgin
with the Kane County Regional Office of Education for a grant
to assist in the funding of the Truancy Program, a copy of
which is attached hereto and made a part hereof by reference.
s/ Kevin Kelly
Kevin Kelly, Mayor
Presented: August 26, 1998
Adopted: August 26, 1998
Omnibus Vote: Yeas 7 Nays 0
Attest:
s/ Dolonna Mecum
Dolonna Mecum, City Clerk
KANE COUNTY
REGIONAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION
CLEM MEJIA County Government Center
Superintendent ` •
�: ••• 719 S. Batavia Avenue
06(4.411 101
.''~ '[ Illinois 60134
-..�► , Geneva,
JULIE VALLEJO " A'rlyw' Phone:(630) 232-5955
Asst Superintendent �``�` Fax:(630)206.5115
LETTER OF AGREEMENT
Chief Charles A. Gruber
Elgin Police Department
151 Douglas Avenue
Elgin,Illinois 60120
Dear Chief Gruber,
This letter of agreement and understanding is for the Truancy Programs. My office has
agreed to cooperate with your department in the following:
1.) We will fund $20,000.00 to assist in the funding for the Truancy Program for the
1998/99 school year. Payments in the amount of$10,000.00 will be sent to you
on July 31, 1998 and September 15, 1998. The Elgin Police Department would
be expected to perform duties as assigned by your department. We would ask that
the officer be expected by you to communicate,collaborate and cooperate with
the Kane County Regional Office of Education and our truancy-at-risk staff. This
would include but not be limited to: visiting and/or accompanying our youth
outreach workers to identified homes/locations of students referred for truancy
services, attending school and/or regional conferences with students and parents
present, attending court when available,providing in-service training to ROE
staff/or parents on at-risk youth issues,and submitting and discussing date,
reports, and evaluations of the program with the Regional Superintendent of
Schools or designee.
AGRE TO BY THE CITY 0 LGIN
Yours in Education,
• By 6 c
Ci Ma ger
Attest:
Pat D Santo
Kane County Regional Office of Education
Director,Alternative Programs
`�y OF EtCi
4.
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City of Elgin Agenda Item No
vqo
"firIRUA°'�,
August 3, 1998
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Joyce A. Parker, City Manager
SUBJECT: Intergovernmental Agreement/Truancy with Kane County
PURPOSE
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide the Mayor and
members of the City Council with information to consider
entering into an Intergovernmental Agreement with the Kane
County Regional Office of Education for a grant to assist in
funding the Truancy Program in the City of Elgin. The Kane
County Regional Office of Education has proposed a grant of
$20, 000 for the 1998-99 school year.
BACKGROUND
In 1997 City Council approved the Truancy Ordinance and
entered into a truancy program partnership with School Dis-
trict U-46 and the Kane County Regional Office of Education
for the 1997-98 school year. The program was established to
assign a Police/Truancy Officer to focus on the problem of
truancy and juvenile crime . Kane County provided a grant of
$20, 000 to assist in the effort to hire back police offi-
cers . The pilot program in the 1997-98 school year showed a
significant effort, highlighted as follows :
Officers made approximately 569 contacts related to truancy.
The effort identified 86 chronic truants with final disposi-
tions as follows :
Improved attendance - 32
Moved from the district boundaries - 11
Referred to court - 16
Dropped from school - 9
Truant conduct continued to be a problem - 6
Referred to counseling - 2
Transferred from school district - 2
Suspended or expelled from school - 2
Home school/other alternatives to complete education - 6
In the 1997-98 school year, the school liaison officers and
the deans ' offices were used to identify truant students . It
was eventually learned that the best contact point in identi-
fying the truants was through school district personnel in
charge of attendance . The chronic truants and their habits
Grant for Truancy Program
August 3, 1998
Page 2
rw. allowed for officers to work with them and their families . Of
the 86 chronic truants, 32 gained improved school attendance .
Working with truants is considered a prevention technique .
Students that stay in school are less likely to be involved in
crime-related activity. The program was initiated in the
second half of the 1997-1998 school year, of which 189 . 5 hire
back hours were utilized. The intent for the 1998-99 school
year is to double the number of hours . The $20, 000 grant will
allow up to 500 hours of hire back time. During the first
month of school, two officers will be scheduled at least three
times a week to provide immediate attention to previously
known chronic truants as well as identify any potential
students that may be headed in that direction. After school
has been in session for a couple of months, the hours will
then be varied.
GROUPS/INTERESTED PERSONS CONTACTED
Mr. Clem Mejia, Kane County Regional Office of Education; Ms .
Patricia Dal Santo, Kane County Regional Office of Education;
and Mr. Paul Patterson, Northeast Area Superintendent, U-46
School District .
PI-
n4 FFINANCIAL IMPACT
The $20, 000 grant will assist in offsetting existing police
staff salaries that will be associated with the program.
‘044LEGAL IMPACT
None .
ALTERNATIVES
The grant could be refused, and the cost of the Truancy
Program would have to be addressed with existing staff and
funds would be expended from the current budget .
RECOMMENDATION
The recommendation is to authorize execution of the
Intergovernmental Cooperative Agreement with the Kane County
Regional Office of Education for a $20, 000 grant to assist in
funding the Truancy Program.
' -spectfully sub itted,
r
.' ' Q '
I•T ce 'IA. Parker
. City Manager
JL/mf
KANE COUNTY
REGIONAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION
CLEM MEJIA " = County Government Center
Superintendent . ••• g 719 S. Batavia Avenue
Geneva, Illinois 60134
JULIE VALLEJO Phone:(630) 232-5955
ZATty►!l ice,
Asst Superintendent ' Fax:(630) 208.5115
LETTER OF AGREEMENT
Chief Charles A. Gruber
Elgin Police Department
151 Douglas Avenue
Elgin, Illinois 60120
Dear Chief Gruber,
This letter of agreement and understanding is for the Truancy Programs. My office has
agreed to cooperate with your department in the following:
1.) We will fund $20,000.00 to assist in the funding for the Truancy Program for the
1998/99 school year. Payments in the amount of$10,000.00 will be sent to you
on July 31, 1998 and September 15, 1998. The Elgin Police,Department would
be expected to perform duties as assigned by your department. We would ask that
the officer be expected by you to communicate,collaborate and cooperate with
the Kane County Regional Office of Education and our truancy-at-risk staff. This
would include but not be limited to: visiting and/or accompanying our youth
outreach workers to identified homes/locations of students referred for truancy
services,attending school and/or regional conferences with students and parents
present, attending court when available,providing in-service training to ROE
staff/or parents on at-risk youth issues,and submitting and discussing date,
reports,and evaluations of the program with the Regional Superintendent of
Schools or designee.
AGRE : TO BY THE CITY 0 LGIN
Yours in Education, ... By ,
Y
Ci
Ma-
ger
Attest:
Pat D Santo
Kane County Regional Office of Education
Director,Alternative Programs
,.„ MEMORANDUM
TO: Lt. McCurtain
FROM: Sergeant Henry Smith
SUBJECT: Report on the Pilot Truancy Program
DATE: July 8, 1998
-
in January of 1998, the Juvenile Division implemented our Pilot Truancy Prevention
Program. This program was a result of a collaborative effort between the Elgin Police
Department, the Kane County Superintendents Office, School District U-46 and Elgin Area
Family Services.
As a part of out collaborative effort, the City Council approved an Elgin Municipal Code
Ordinance that rendered it unlawful for anyone under the age of 18 who is subject to
compulsory education or compulsory continued education to loiter unsupervised in public
between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on days when schools are in session,
Students who were found in violation of this City Ordinance, were charged and faced a
hearing process in the local branch court. This provided us with the enforcement
mechanisms necessary to address the truancy issue. In our initial proposal, we requested
funding from the City Counsel to hire a police officer for the purpose of Curfew Ordinance
Enforcement, Coordination of the Program and Monitoring of the Disposition of those
Truancy Cases referred to court. The funding for the Truancy Officer was not approved
by the City Counsel; therefore, it was decided to use funds provided by the Kane County
Superintendents Office for the Truancy Program for the purpose of a Hire Back Detail.
The Hire Back Detail was developed for the purpose of making home visits regarding
truant students. Those officers were also involved in some preventive patrol efforts similar
to that of the Curfew Program as well. These officers made daily contacts with various
Elgin area schools and performed several tasks related to Truancy Enforcement and
follow-up with parents and schools. We also assigned a Juvenile Officers to coordinate
this program. This officer had initially been assigned to the Curfew Program and we
anticipated his expertise in working with Curfew Program and the local branch court would
•
assist us in development with the enforcement aspect of the Truancy Program. This officer
was also given a task of collecting data as it relates to the schools, juveniles and parents
contact as a result of the Truancy Program. There were 19 officers assigned to the
Truancy Detail as a result of the Hire Back Program. These officers worked a total of 189.5
hours. ( The cost of the Hire Back Detail can be provided by the Police Departments
Administrative Staff).
The Hire Back Detail started during the month of January and the dates were alternated
from month to month, rotating Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to Tuesdays and
Thursdays. For example, during the month of January the officers worked Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays. During the month of February they worked Tuesdays and
Thursdays continuing this process through the month of May. There was a total of 17
schools contacted as a result of the Truancy Program. (See the attached list of schools). .
The officers involved in this program made approximately 569 contacts regarding truancy.
These contacts consisted of contacts with schools, students and parents. As a result of
our detail and truancy efforts, there were 20 juveniles arrested for juvenile related incidents
as well as truancy during the Pilot Program, Of those contacts' two were referred to the
Peer Jury Program, one to the Consequences Program and four to Counseling with the
Elgin Social Service Department. We also identified 86 chronic truants and monitored
those students and were in contact with those students for the entire Truancy Pilot
Program process, Statistics on the contacts with those 86 students will follow later in the
report. There are also 26 incident reports generated as a result of the Truancy Program.
In our initial proposal, we had identified one specific area that we want to target regarding
the Truancy Program. That area was daytime vehicle burglary. During the first quarter of
the year 1998 we were able to make a comparison of vehicle burglary arrests to the year
1997. Crime Analysis statistics show that in 1997 there were 90 vehicle burglaries
reported. In 1998 there were 54 vehicle burglaries reported, showing a percentage
change of-67%. We also noted during this same time span that in 1997 there were 14
arrests of juveniles ages 1-16 and in 1998 there was one juvenile arrested. A percentage
r` change again of a -93%. These vehicle burglaries and arrest statistics were taken from
the hours of 0800 to 1600 hours during the time period noted. (See the attached graph
risk information).
In an effort to develop the feed back from the schools, we sent out an evaluation form
regarding the Pilot Truancy Program. Of 17 evaluations sent out at the time of this report,
we have received 10 responses. Overall, the evaluations received from the area schools
were positive. in summary, all thought that the program was needed and that they would
like to see the program continue for the school year 1998-1999. They also noted in the
evaluations that the officers involved in the program were very helpful. in summarizing the
suggestions for improvement in the program, overall most anticipate seeing the program
at the offset of the school year 1998-1999, It is our belief that if we continue the program
as we have with the Hire Back Detail that this could help set the tone and reduce the
number of truancies experienced by the Elgin area schools for the school year 1998-1999.
A summary report on the 86 chronic truants:
After identifying 86 students who were chronic truants, officers involved in the program
r'ri""tracked these students and the final dispositions on those students are as follows:
1. Improved attendance 32
2. Moved from school district boundaries 11
3. Referred to court 16
4. Dropped from school 9
5. Truant conduct continued to be a problem-6
6. Referred to counseling-2
7. Transferred from school district-2
8. Suspended or expelled from school-2 •
Section Other: which includes;
Students being referred to night school programs.
Students being referred to GED program.
r* Home School and other Alternatives to complete their education.-6
In conclusion, overall we feel that our Pilot Program proved to be very successful. For
what we were able to learn in terms of contacting schools, development of proactive
approach with parents and students and in court referral process. All provide for important
mechanisms to improve the program for the school year 1998-1999. We also anticipate
being able to enhance the approach developed in the Pilot Program to have a greater
impact and develop a better method of feed back and communication with those schools
in the Elgin area. We anticipate with the additional funding received from the Kane County
Superintendents Office, also to be able to implement our computer tracking program, again
that will assist us in collecting data on truants for a quicker response to proactive
measures of impacting this problem.
r
few
4