Davis
Moats
HUNTINGTON -- Supreme Court Justice Robin Jean Davis and 19th Circuit Judge Alan Moats are scheduled to hold the fifth of 14 regional meetings on truancy at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 7, in Courtroom No. 3, at the Cabell County Courthouse in Huntington.
The public is invited to attend and no registration is needed.
Although anyone from any county is welcome, this meeting is specifically for people living in Cabell, Lincoln, and Wayne counties.
Previous meetings have been held in Charleston, Clarksburg, Morgantown, and Lewisburg. Future meetings are planned in Summersville, Logan, Martinsburg, Keyser, Elkins, Beckley, Point Pleasant, Wheeling, and Parkersburg before Thanksgiving.
Davis and Moats, whose circuit encompasses Barbour and Taylor
counties, encourage parents, educators, social service workers, court officials, and anyone who works with children on a daily basis to attend. Davis has been designated by the Supreme Court to coordinate and expand judicial truancy programs in West Virginia.
Truancy was the topic of a meeting during the Judicial Conference in Charleston in June. Circuit Judges from around West Virginia were joined in that discussion by State Schools Superintendent Jorea Marple; Board of Education President Priscilla Haden; Senate
Education Chairman Robert Plymale, D-Wayne; and House Education Chairwoman, Mary Poling, D-Barbour. They agreed that the three branches of government should work together
on the issue.
Some circuit judges in West Virginia already have initiated truancy programs. At the regional meetings, Davis and Moats are discussing those programs as examples of ideas that work. The purpose of the regional meetings is to encourage communities to design similar programs tailored to their local assets and needs.