ROE 1 Truancy Referrals Drop for First Time in Years

For the first time in several years, the number of truancy referrals handled by Regional Office of Education #1 fell, a milestone that officials say reflects growing early intervention across the six-county region that includes Morgan County and Jacksonville.

ROE #1, administered by Regional Superintendent Jill Reis, serves Adams, Brown, Cass, Morgan, Pike, and Scott Counties through its Abolish Chronic Truancy program, known as the ACT Program. Under Illinois law, a student who accumulates nine unexcused absences, equal to five percent of the 180-day school year, qualifies as chronically truant and triggers a mandatory referral to the regional office. That the volume of those referrals declined marks a notable shift after years of steady growth.

The ACT program operates on a stepped approach designed to resolve attendance problems before families face formal proceedings. ROE specialists send three successive notices to families showing emerging truancy patterns. If absences continue, families receive a Notice to Appear for a hearing at the regional office, where staff examine what has gone wrong and develop a service plan. That plan can require referral to outside agencies for assessment or counseling. Court involvement becomes an option only when those earlier steps fail.

The implication of fewer referrals is that more families are finding traction earlier in that process, either through school-level support or through community services, before cases escalate to the ROE.

For Morgan County families dealing with attendance struggles, the ROE 1 satellite office in Jacksonville serves as a direct point of contact. Information on the ACT program and the referral process is available at roe1.net. Families are encouraged to reach out before a referral is filed; the intervention process is designed to help, not punish, and earlier contact gives students the best chance of resolving attendance barriers before a formal record follows them.