Truancy officers call for national database

Truancy officers have urged the establishment of a national database to share information when students change schools.

At a conference in Tauranga for 70 attendance officers from Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay and Waikato last week, there were also calls for an 0800 truancy number for schools, more truancy officers and fortnightly meetings with police to discuss the 10 most chronic truants.

North Island attendance officers said the problem had been highlighted by a long summer in which pupils had relished their stolen time by hitting the surf.

Tauranga Moana District Truancy Service attendance officer Graeme Leigh-MacKenzie, who looks after thousands of pupils at 25 Tauranga schools, said his job was hectic.

Mr Leigh-MacKenzie, who has worked with children for 26 years and is a former police youth aid officer, said: "I'm now dealing with the children of the children I dealt with as a youth aid officer.

"That cycle is extremely difficult to break in some situations."

Parenting skills, gang influences and drugs contributed to truancy, he said.

Officers Joy Caldwell and Damian Moloney are based at Otumoetai College and cover other schools in the area.

Mr Moloney said there could be up to 100 unexplained absences to check on at Otumoetai College alone every day - and about 40 "chronic" truants to follow up.
He said it would be more effective to work full-time in pairs "even for the officers' own safety".

Police youth aid officer Nga Utanga said the past of most young criminals could be traced back to truancy and it was not possible to put a value on what attendance officers did. "They are the forgotten workers," he said.

- NZPA