Juvenile-Probate Courts’ Judge Frederick (Fritz) Hany II and the Ottawa County Prosecutor’s Office hosted a joint event last week at the Camp Perry Joint Training Center in Port Clinton which focused on issues schools may face this upcoming year, specifically, student attendance. Speakers included Hany, Chief Probation Officer Jay Faris, and Assistant Prosecutor Chris Enoch.

“It was nice to spend time with our school administrators, support staff and resource officers to review Ohio’s truancy laws and procedures. With the ongoing pandemic, our schools continue to face attendance challenges and the Court wishes to be part of assisting them in getting kids to attend and graduate,” said Hany.

All Ohio youth are required to attend school and when they accumulate too many unexcused absences, the student and their parents may have to answer to the juvenile court.

School officials from Port Clinton, Oak Harbor, Genoa, Elmore and Put-in-Bay joined in the discussion regarding their truancy and school attendance procedures.

“We appreciate these efforts that bring everyone together to strengthen our common work supporting the success of all students in Ottawa County,” said Superintendent Dr. Guy Parmigian of the Benton-Carroll-Salem School District.

Assistant Prosecutor Enoch shared the rules and regulations on truancy along with the importance of school attendance.

“It is clear that improved classroom attendance improves the lives of our students. Improved attendance means improved graduation rates, improved academic prospects, and improved workforce opportunities for a good-paying job later on in life,” said Enoch.

The forum also touched on other hot topics that are affecting area schools, including how the pandemic and virtual learning has impacted schools and students.

“We appreciate Judge Hany and the other guests who participated in the summit.  It provided a great opportunity for all of us to begin our school year on the same page and to have great dialogue on hot topics facing our county schools,” said Port Clinton Schools Superintendent Pat Adkins.

Judge Hany added, “The importance of public education in our community can’t be overstated. We know that most opportunities for our youths’ success later in life begin here.”