Staff and volunteers headed out Thursday for another truancy "blitz" in the Rochester School District. Once a month, they fan out to the homes of students who go to schools where truancy is the highest.
Jerome Underwood heads up youth development and family services for the district. He says the issues with truancy often involve a variety of issues involving the homes where the students live.
"The issues of mental, physical, substance abuse, the issues of homelessness, housing issues. "
The truancy blitz targeted eight schools..most of them elementary schools as well as East High School.
Underwood says since the program began last year, they have had some success, getting several hundred students who had been chronically truant, back into a regular schedule. He says the district tries to help families having problems connect with the appropriate agencies.
