WILLIAMSON – The Mingo County Schools Department of Student Services has announced a new community outreach program targeting the county’s students who have issues regarding poor school attendance and their parents.

Drema Dempsey, Mingo County Schools Director of Student Services and Attendance, has announced that the department, in conjunction with the host schools, is scheduling a groundbreaking series of community based parental support nights aimed at providing support to the county’s truant students. This series of meetings, the Family Support for School Attendance Evenings, will be held in centralized locations in the different attendance areas of Mingo County.

Parents will be invited to visit with members of the Mingo County Schools Student Attendance Department to discuss issues regarding their students’ school attendance. Director Dempsey and members of her staff will be on hand to discuss any concerns related to school attendance. Also, representatives of Mingo County School’s Community Partnership Alliance, who are community resource agencies offering support programs for attendance barriers, such as wellness, teen pregnancy, child care responsibilities and other student issues, will be present with information on their services.

The first of the Family Support for School Attendance Evenings will be held at Tug Valley High School on Thursday, October 4, from 5-7 p.m. The second of the Family Support for School Attendance Evenings will be held at Mingo Central High School on Thursday, October 18, from 5-7 p.m. A third meeting in the series will be held at a yet to be determined location and date.

In addition to the county Student Services staff, other representatives on hand at these evening meetings will include, but are not limited to, MIHOW (Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker) Program by ABLE Families of Kermit, RESA II, L.I.N.K. Child Care Resources, the Family Resource Network, and the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

According to Director Dempsey, hopes are high that bringing these evenings out to the parents will be a giant move towards better support for parents in their struggles with keeping their children motivated to attend school.

“We realize that parents work and cannot always meet with us during the day. We want to make every effort to meet with parents before we have to initiate truancy proceedings,” said Dempsey. “This series will allow us to not only open a line of communication between parents and the school system, but it will also allow us to share with them support resources from our community partners that they may find helpful. Hopefully, these meetings are at a time that is convenient for their schedules as well.”