Truancy Enforcement Center

The Truancy Enforcement Center was created to effectively address the growing problem of truancy in the Dallas area. Traditional juvenile justice practices combined with the quality prevention and intervention services historically provided by Dallas Challenge create a unique atmosphere successful in getting youth off the streets and back in school. Over 65% of the roughly 2,000 youth seen each year by the Truancy Enforcement Center return to school with no further truancy problems.

Youth participants are often repeat offenders who choose participation in TEC programs over entering the juvenile detention center. Truant students are sent to the Truancy Enforcement Center immediately after being charged with contempt of court by a presiding magistrate for their continued truant behavior. This instantaneous intervention prevents students from accruing even more absences while awaiting a pending court date by targeting a change in the long-term destructive behavior of truant youth.

The TEC process:

• A thorough assessment of the individual youth, their family, school records and circumstances is conducted by a TEC case manager
• The case manager evaluates the results of the assesment and recommends a service plan
• An appointed referee/master hears the youth's case at the Truancy Enforcement Center
• New court orders are placed upon the youth to adhere to the service plan for an informal probationary period of 3 - 6 months
• Upon evaluation, the case is considered successfully closed if the youth follows the case manager's recommended service plan and complies with the conditions outlined in the court order
• Failure to comply results in the participant's transportation to the juvenile detention center where he or she is processed into the formal juvenile justice system

The Truancy Enforcement Center is a public/private partnership between Dallas Challenge and the Dallas County Commissioners Court formed in 1996 to address truancy and related Class C misdemeanors among youth throughout Dallas.

For more information about the Truancy Enforcement Center
please call the center at 214.860.4408
or e-mail: info@dallaschallenge.org  

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