School district seeks volunteers for Operation Student Recovery

Operation Student Recovery, a San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) program that helps get truant students back in school, is looking for volunteers for the January 25 event.

Operation Student Recovery pairs SBCUSD administrators and staff with community volunteers to visit the homes of students identified as chronically absent. The goal is to help families understand the legal and educational consequences of being truant and work with them to address the obstacles preventing students from attending school.

Students are truant if they are absent from school without a valid excuse. California defines a student as a chronic truant when they are truant for 10 percent of the school year. Parents or guardians of chronic truants could be issued fines under California law.

“We send out letters, post the information on social media, and make calls about absences,” Youth Services Specialist Susann Hazen said, “but it means more when we deliver the message in person. When top school district officials and community leaders take the time to personally visit you, you know there are people who care if your child is at school. And, when those people are there to help, to put you in touch with the resources to help you feed your child or address the medical issues that are keeping your child out of school, that’s when parents realize they don’t have to do it alone. We can work together to make a difference for all the children in our community.”

If you would like to participate in Operation Student Recovery on Thursday, January 25, contact Tiffany Avant at (909) 880-6807 or email OSR@sbcusd.com by Tuesday, January 23.

Operation Student Recovery kicks off at 8 a.m. at the SBCUSD Professional Development Center, 4030 Georgia Blvd. in San Bernardino, so volunteers can meet their partners and receive their assignments.