Schools only have so many tools and intervention techniques at their disposal to mitigate a student’s truancy issues, and some districts have more resources than others. 

When a student continues to be chronically absent, meaning they’ve missed well over 10 days of school, and nothing is working to improve their attendance, court is the last resort. 

Within Colorado’s Fifth Judicial District — comprising Summit, Eagle, Lake and Clear Creek counties — is truancy court. 

Truancy court functions a bit different from district to district, yet has the same end goal in each: improve a truant student’s attendance. Each case that goes to truancy court starts with a referral from a school. Next comes a date in the county’s respective court, followed by the appointing of an advocate for the student. A judge will assign a volunteer from Court Appointed Special Advocates of the Continental Divide who will work with the students. Court Appointed Special Advocates is a national organization which supports youth interacting with the county system in some fashion and has regional branches. 

Janine Mariani, co-executive director of programs for Court Appointed Special Advocates of the Continental Divide, said schools in Colorado must abide by state truancy laws until a student turns 18. 

“Every school is going to have their own truancy policy with things they do (such as) interventions within the school, and then the truancy courts are a last resort option — they’ve tried everything else they can,” she said.

Where the process differs district to district is the action plans created to improve truancy. For instance, Mariani said, Summit School District plays a major role creating a student’s truancy action plan and Court Appointed Special Advocates helps support that plan. In some of the other counties, Court Appointed Special Advocates is the one coming up with the action plan.

The current iteration of truancy court in Summit, which has existed in different versions in the past, started in the 2023-24 school year. Eagle County’s current iteration started in 2019, Lake County’s started in 2021 and Clear Creek County’s started in 2020. 

When it comes to chronic absenteeism rates in the Fifth Judicial District, Summit’s are above the rest at 40.8% for the 2023-24 school year. Eagle County School District has a chronic absenteeism rate of 31.3% for the 2023-24 year, Lake County School District had a rate of 18.4% and Clear Creek School District had a rate of 27.9%. Statewide, Colorado had a chronic absenteeism rate of 27.7% for the 2023-24 school year.

Court Appointed Special Advocates supported five truancy cases in the 2023-24 school year and had seven open cases this school year. Some of the 2024-25 cases carried over from the previous year, Mariani said. 

In terms of Eagle County, Court Appointed Special Advocates currently has 11 cases it is involved in, but more than double that exists, Mariani said. She said this is because Court Appointed Special Advocates is so short on volunteers in Eagle County the organization doesn’t have the capacity to take every case.

Truancy court is on courts’ dockets one day each month, and Mariani said a student will go to check in once a month until the case is closed and attendance has improved. 

Judge Reed Owens is the judge presiding over the cases in Summit and will step in to help out in Eagle County court if they are in need of a judge. Mariani, Owens and Court Appointed Special Advocates volunteers said there are a variety of reasons a student is truant, including family or work obligations, mental health and transportation issues, just to name a few. Due to there being a myriad of reasons for truancy, there isn’t a blanket approach to fix it that works, Owen said. Yet, he said, there’s a common thread between all successful cases: consistency. 

He said it’s “invaluable” to have the same team backing the student throughout the entire process from the advocate they work with, to school officials involved to the same judge presiding over the case each time the student does a check in.

Summit School District truancy representative Mindy Regner, who said she was behind the push to reup truancy court in Summit, said the Court Appointed Special Advocates volunteers often have significant impacts on students and are the ones influencing change. 

Volunteer Allen Cochran said becoming well acquainted with the student and their family or support system is a crucial first step. Once he determines the root of a student’s truancy problem and an action plan is made, he will refer them to resources, generally provided through a nonprofit, to further improve their chance at success. 

Mariani said having volunteers who have identities aligning with students can be the difference maker in these cases. She said the organization is currently in desperate need for male volunteers and Spanish-speaking volunteers, particularly those who are Eagle-County based. 

Court Appointed Special Advocates of the Continental Divide is a nonprofit and heavily relies on donations to operate. To learn more visit MTNcasa.org.