Kids Matter!

A Status Report on the Well-Being of Children and Youth in Chatham County, Georgia

• Introduction
• Overview
• Executive Summary
• HEALTHY CHILDREN
  • Low Birth Weight Births
  • Very Low Birth Weight Births
  • Infant Mortality
  • Teen Births
  • Teen Pregnancy
  • Repeat Teen Pregnancy
  • Teen Violent Deaths & Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• CHILDREN READY FOR & SUCCEEDING IN SCHOOL
  • Over Age 3rd Grade
  • Over Age 5th Grade
  • Over Age 9th Grade
  • System Wide Out of School Suspensions
  • 5th Grade Out of School Suspensions
  • 7th and 9th Grade Out of School Suspensions
  • Truancy
  • Dropouts
  • Graduation Rate
  • Post-Secondary and Technical/Vocational
• STRONG FAMILIES & NEIGHBORHOODS
  • Child Abuse & Neglect
  • Out of Home Placement
  • Juvenile Court
  • Department of Juvenile Justice
  • Juvenile Arrests
• SELF-SUFFICIENT FAMILIES
  • Poverty/Free or Reduced Cost School Lunch/Household Income/Self-Sufficiency
• Data Sources & Acknowledgements

Kids Matter! - 2008

CHILDREN READY FOR & SUCCEEDING IN SCHOOL

Truancy

Truancy continues to be a serious problem in our community over the years; however, we have seen considerable reductions in the number of truant students thanks to the cooperative efforts of the local public school system and the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department. A student is considered truant by legal definition if five or more unexcused absences occur during a school year. Since the 2006-2007 academic school year, we have seen a 41.2% decrease in the number of truant youth. In the 2008-2009 school year, Black youth accounted for 66% of the truant students.