Education Neglect and Truancy Guidelines

Students and their caretakers continue to face educational access barriers during hybrid and distance learning. In early November, Governor Walz issued an executive order to expand school flexibility and address student needs within the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Foster Advocates highlights two key takeaways from this order: discouraging truancy calls and providing mental health resources. These directives address key findings from our Foster Youth COVID-19 Impact Report related to the educational barriers Fosters face and how deeply Fosters are impacted by isolation and mental health.

Executive Order 20-94 directs schools to:

1. Refrain from referring students to truancy programs when they have limited access to technology, connectivity, or educational resources. It is critical that schools enact compassionate, responsive ways to engage ALL students and families instead of turning to punitive systems. We agree that attendance policies: “if not thoughtfully crafted and implemented, ha[ve] the potential to exacerbate inequities that exist in the Minnesota public school system.”

Recommendation: Minnesota law is currently unclear on the relation between educational neglect and truancy, resulting in different practices for reporting, mediation, and oversight between counties. Foster Advocates is encouraged by updated MDE Attendance and Truancy Guidelines directing districts to form school attendance teams for more consistent family support and reporting practices, and we call on districts and county social services to enter formal agreements for clear response practices during this public health crisis

2. Prioritize mental health needs. School districts should ensure their students have access to telehealth services on school-issued devices, as well as implement updated MDE 2020-2021 Planning Guidance on mental health and well-being, school climate, trauma-informed practices, and social-emotional learning. This is especially crucial for Fosters who face elevated isolation between system involvement and COVID-19, as school contacts may be their key source of stability and mental health resources during placement transitions.

As we note in our Foster Impact Report, COVID-19 affects some individuals more deeply than others, and we thank the schools and counties that are responding with deep family and community understanding. We also call on the Walz administration to create a COVID-19 working group on child welfare issues--like educational neglect--to ensure equity for Fosters across the state as we continue to move through this pandemic.