Louisiana Supreme Court Continues Collaboration with Educators and Community Stakeholders to Address Truancy - Press Release

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Louisiana Supreme Court Continues Collaboration with Educators and Community Stakeholders to Address Truancy 
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<div align="left" style="text-align:center;"><table style="width:100%;background-color:#428bca;"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td bgcolor="#428bca" height="21" valign="middle" width="100%"><div align="center"><strong><span style="color:#ffffff;">2025 Press Releases</span></strong> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><table width="16%" style="width:1112px;"><tbody><tr></tr></tbody></table></div><table style="width:100%;text-align:center;"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td width="82" style="text-align:left;width:71px;">CONTACT:&nbsp;</td><td width="253" style="text-align:left;width:1039px;">Trina S. Vincent<br />504-310-2590 </td></tr></tbody></table><div align="left" style="text-align:center;"><table style="width:100%;border-spacing:3px;background-color:#f7ebc6;"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td width="38%" style="text-align:left;"><span style="color:#212073;text-transform:uppercase;"><strong>June 30, 2025</strong></span> </td><td width="62%"><p align="right"><span style="color:#212073;"><strong>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</strong></span> </p></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong></strong>&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align:center;text-transform:uppercase;"><strong>LOUISIANA SUPREME COURT CONTINUES COLLABORATION WITH EDUCATORS AND COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS TO ADDRESS TRUANCY</strong> </p><p>In an effort to address the growing rates of truancy in Louisiana, earlier this year Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John L. Weimer met with the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) and representatives from the Governor&rsquo;s office. The group discussed ways to collaborate in addressing the truancy rate impacting Louisiana, which according to some statistics is currently over 40% for Louisiana&rsquo;s K-12th grade students in public schools. This discussion energized educators, judges, social workers, faith-based leaders, and other community stakeholders to action, including organizing a statewide summit to address the root causes of student absenteeism.</p><p>At the recent <a href="https://doe.louisiana.gov/educators/professional-development/teacher-leader-summit" target="_blank">Teacher Leadership Summit</a>, held earlier in June and attended by Louisiana educators from throughout the state, Chief Justice Weimer emphasized, &ldquo;There is a statistical correlation between absenteeism, truancy, and crime. Part of our mission as judges, educators, and community leaders should be to be proactive and involved in addressing behaviors among Louisiana children to hopefully deter criminal activities.&rdquo; Deputy Judicial Administrator, Division of Children and Families Storm Ehlers also spoke at the Teacher Leadership Summit about the value of Families in Need of Services Assistance Program (FINS-AP) in addressing truancy. Truancy was also a topic at the recent Families in Need of Services Association Conference, also addressed by Chief Justice Weimer, which included participation of other judges who shared their initiatives to combat truancy.</p><p>In the works are plans to collaborate for a statewide Solutions Summit to be held later this year on the subject of truancy and absenteeism. The upcoming summit will unite the Louisiana judiciary, educators, and other stakeholders in developing strategies to address truancy. This year, the summit will invite all judicial districts, with joint efforts from the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Children&rsquo;s Cabinet, and the Louisiana Department of Education/BESE. In 2023, the Children&rsquo;s Cabinet focused on addressing truancy in ten jurisdictions, assisting those areas in forming collaborative teams to tackle the issue. The Children&rsquo;s Cabinet serves as the state&rsquo;s governing body responsible for coordinating funding and programmatic services at the state and local level, related to children and their families. FINS-AP Program Manager ReShonn Saul, Chair of the Children&rsquo;s Cabinet Advisory Board, played a vital role in revitalizing the Solutions Summit initiative.</p><p>These collaborative efforts to combat truancy are just another example of the continuing efforts of our Louisiana judges to join with others in improving our communities and reducing recidivism. The Judges in the Classroom/Students in the Courtroom program is a partnership among the Louisiana Supreme Court, our state judges, the Louisiana Center for Law and Civic Education (LCLCE), BESE, and the Louisiana Commission on Civic Education to engage students on civic education and legal matters through school visits and courtroom tours. The Integrated Criminal Justice Information System (ICJIS) fosters active collaboration among sheriffs, clerks of court, district attorneys, judges, the Governor, and other state agencies, allowing for secure, real-time data sharing across the state. Finally, our judges collaborated with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety &amp; Corrections (DPS&amp;C) to develop and update the bench book which serves as a resource guide on programs available for individuals in custody or under supervision. These collaborative efforts will continue and will hopefully benefit our citizens and the youth of Louisiana.</p><p>The Louisiana Supreme Court is one of only a small number of Supreme Courts to administer programs such as specialty courts like drug courts, which follow a drug and treatment court model towards rehabilitation instead of incarceration; Family in Need of Services-Assistance Program (FINS-AP) facilitates the unique FINS process as a legal intervention to assist families experiencing challenges, including child absenteeism and truancy; Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for neglected and abused children that find themselves involved in the court system; and Louisiana Protective Order Registry (LPOR), which provides assistance to those that find themselves embroiled in domestic violence.</p><p><em><strong>Louisiana Supreme Court Mission:</strong> To preserve the integrity of the judiciary, to build and maintain public trust, to provide effective and efficient administration of justice in the Supreme Court, to ensure proper administration and performance of all courts under Supreme Court authority, and to ensure the highest professional conduct, integrity, and competence of the bench and bar.</em> </p><p><strong>For more information visit <a href="/">lasc.org</a> or contact Louisiana Supreme Court Deputy Judicial Administrator-Community Relations, Trina S. Vincent at <a href="mailto:tvincent@lasc.org">tvincent@lasc.org</a>.</strong></p><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>-30-</strong></p><link rel="stylesheet" href="/press_room/press_releases/2025/images/2025-02_picgrid.css" /><div class="picgrid"><div><p><img src="/press_room/press_releases/2025/images/2025-08_State_Collaborators_Truancy_Teachers_Leadership_Summit.jpg" alt="14th JDC FINS Program Director Lacey Hull; Louisiana Supreme Court Deputy Judicial Administrator, Division of Children and Families Storm Ehlers; Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Timothy S. Marcel; Orleans Juvenile Court Judge Ranord J. Darensburg; BESE President Ronnie Morris; Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John L. Weimer; Exec. Director, Children's Cabinet Jolie Williamson; BESE District 2 Representative Dr. Sharon Clark; Orleans D.A. Jason Williams; Caddo Parish Juvenile Court Judge Natalie R. Howell; and BESE District 7 Representative Kevin Berken" /><br /><span class="caption">14th JDC FINS Program Director Lacey Hull; Louisiana Supreme Court Deputy Judicial Administrator, Division of Children and Families Storm Ehlers; Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Timothy S. Marcel; Orleans Juvenile Court Judge Ranord J. Darensburg; BESE President Ronnie Morris; Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John L. Weimer; Exec. Director, Children's Cabinet Jolie Williamson; BESE District 2 Representative Dr. Sharon Clark; Orleans D.A. Jason Williams; Caddo Parish Juvenile Court Judge Natalie R. Howell; and BESE District 7 Representative Kevin Berken.</span> </p></div></div><p>&nbsp;</p>
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