1. School District Commitment

   1. Discussion between truancy coordinators and administration about level of interest and commitment including additional staff time or reassigned staff time and authority to proceed.
   2. Discussion about how district will use community truancy board: as an intervention, as an alternative to court, or both.
   3. Consensus about who will take the lead on community truancy board development.

2. Volunteer Recruitment

   1. Develop application format.
   2. Place public service announcements in newspapers,
   3. Mail invitations to volunteer to mailing lists of Kiwanis, nonprofits in the area, Better Business Bureau, Parent-Teachers Association, etc.
   4. Interview and screen volunteers.

3. Volunteer Training

   1. Develop training materials to include information about truancy in general, rationale of community truancy boards, authority of community truancy board granted by statute and by district, use of stipulated orders, examples of appropriate recommendations, local resources list(s), and procedures.
   2. Provide three evenings of training.
   3. Develop forms and secure volunteer signatures for volunteer liability and hold harmless statements.
   4. Develop forms and secure volunteer signature and commitment for volunteer code of conduct and confidentiality agreement.
   5. Gather volunteer availability schedules and assign volunteers into teams that will meet regularly but not more than twice a month.
   6. Decide whether student volunteers will be included.

4. Establishment of a Referral Process

   1. Who will decide which cases go to the community truancy board.
   2. How case information will get to the community truancy board.
   3. Develop referral materials to include synopsis of interventions to date.

5. Community Truancy Board Operations and Coordination

   1. How paperwork will flow.
   2. How the board will monitor compliance.
   3. How the district will know in case of noncompliance.
   4. How the board will hear updates on cases already heard.
   5. Who will schedule community truancy board hearings.

6. Evaluative Component

   1. Develop survey instrument to measure parent satisfaction with community truancy board process.
   2. Develop survey instrument to measure student satisfaction with community truancy board process.
   3. Develop way to measure volunteer satisfaction to ensure retention.

7. Volunteer Appreciation

   1. Identify ways to recognize exemplary work.
   2. Create year-end recognition for all.

8. Public Relations Component

   1. Invite district administrators and leaders to observe community truancy board and meet volunteers.
   2. Encourage local press articles about process and success of community truancy board.
   3. Use information gathered from evaluations to plug community truancy board to district, local leaders, press and potential funders.
   4. Keep track of numbers of cases, level of compliance, attitude/behavior change of student, and percentage decrease in use of court.

From:

Dimock, K. King County Superior Court Community Truancy Board Development Handbook, 2002-2004. Seattle, WA: King County Superior Court.