The latest truancy data for Memphis City Schools last year painted this picture: 45,000-plus students with at least five unexcused absentees, and 20,000 were truant for 10 or more days.

The Rev. Dwight Montgomery, president of the Memphis SCLC, thinks the mentoring initiative can reach students at risk for truancy. (Photo by Earl Stanback)

Shelby County District Atty. Gen. Bill Gibbons’ Office is touting a mentoring program designed to reduce truancy among MCS teens. The aim is to tap community and faith-based organizations to become mentors to help high-risk youth, reducing truancy and juvenile delinquency.

The local middle schools participating in the mentoring program are: Chickasaw, Cypress, Hamilton, Hickory Ridge, Sherwood, Humes, Vance and Westside.

On Tuesday at the Archie Rice Center at 460 E. McLemore at Wellington, the SCLC Memphis Chapter, the District Attorney’s Office and Operation Safe Community sponsored a luncheon for pastors to discuss solutions and to provide volunteers for the mentoring program. Speakers presenting the need and making the call for action were the Rev. Dwight Montgomery, president of the Memphis SCLC, Gibbons, Special Assistant to the District Attorney and City Councilman Harold B. Collins; Dr. Wayne J. Pitts, associate professor and director of the Mid-South Survey Research Center; and Michelle Fowlkes, Executive Director of Operation Safe Community.

Pitts shared information from an evaluation conducted by The University of Memphis Department of Criminology. The study concluded that the majority of truant students were African-American females and that African-American youths in Memphis accounted for 97 percent of all area truancies.

Collins told the clergy that the DA’s office wanted to involve faith groups to have a positive impact on the children’s lives. Some members of the clergy expressed concerns about whether their participation would violate separation of church and state provisions in the U.S. Constitution. Gibbons and Collins told the pastors that as individual volunteer mentors they could positively influence a child with their faith. The mentors would volunteer their personal time with troubled youths, thus avoiding any legal concerns, they said.

Individuals, groups and organizations interested in becoming involved should contact the office of Harold B. Collins, Special Assistant to the Shelby County District Attorney, at 545-5900.