COLLETTE DEVLIN
Last updated 05:00 07/04/2012
Invercargill truancy officers fear for their jobs as the Education Ministry prepares to roll out its restructured truancy model in October.
The Invercargill District Truancy Service, which works with city schools and some rural Southland schools, has been working on truancy rates in the city since 2004.
However, under ministry plans, the service will be combined with the Government's Non-Enrolled Truancy Services to form the Integrated Attendance Service, which will take over at the beginning of term four.
Invercargill Student Support Network director Lois Conway said it was a good idea to combine the services but the difficulty would be how to combine them while using both services effectively.
"At the moment we are in limbo. Truancy officers don't know if they will have jobs in October. The size of districts served is being changed and the nature of who can deliver the service is still being discussed," she said.
Southland truancy officers Lindsay Thomas and Neil Jackson said there needed to be certainty about a continuing service with benefits to children.
"The priority is making sure the children are safe and in school," Mr Thomas said.
Verdon College acts as the signatory to the truancy service agreement with the Ministry of Education on behalf of Invercargill schools. Principal Jarlath Kelly said the community and social services played an important role supporting students' attendance at schools.
"We find that this [current] approach, along with the positive relationships that we build with our students, is extremely successful in supporting our students' attendance and success," he said.
Ministry group manager regional education Carolyn Murphy confirmed the number of truancy districts would change and there would be fewer services covering a larger area in the South Island.
She said all current truancy service contracts would end in September 2012 but they could participate in the tender process for the new attendance service.
Funding would target priority areas based on evidence of highest need, she said.
Sergeant Phil Berryman, of Invercargill police youth services, said truancy services were important because there was a link between truancy and crime.
"Students who engage in school are also less likely to commit crimes outside of school hours," he said.