October 30, 2003 - The Texas Bar Foundation has awarded the Austin School District a grant of $10,000 to help fund a Truancy Mediation Project.

The project will build upon an in-school peer mediation model that was developed in part by Austin attorneys. This project will allow AISD to test the use of mediation techniques to reduce truancy. The program addresses truancy problems before court filings occur. The process will involve neutral mediators, students, parents/guardians, and school officials.  
 
"The Texas Bar Foundation has supported a variety of projects to assist schools in using dispute resolution techniques. With this grant, the Austin Schools will begin to establish a mediation process which will provide effective, early intervention in truancy cases, and enable students to have a more positive and productive school experience," Superintendent Pat Forgone said. "We are grateful to the Texas Bar Foundation for its support of this innovative approach to seeking collaborative solutions to truancy."  
 
The grant, coupled with revenue from other sources, will fund staff who will coordinate the creation and management of the truancy mediation process in collaboration with the District Attorney's office and the Truancy Court. Local attorneys and other trained mediators will serve as neutral mediators in this program.  
 
The program will be piloted in the spring of 2004 at one high school and at one or two middle schools where Truancy Court already operates. After the initial pilot phase of this project, it is the desire of the district to offer truancy mediation to all campuses, Dr. Forgione said.  
 
Since its inception in 1965, the Texas Bar Foundation has awarded more than $6 million in grants to law-related programs. Supported by members of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar Foundation is the nation's largest charitably-funded bar foundation.  
 
Coordinator of AISD's mediation programs is Jane Nethercut who can be reached at 414-0196.