Morgan County’s district attorney wants to expand the city’s truancy program

MORGAN CO., Ala. (WAFF) – The Morgan County District Attorney says he wants to expand the truancy program started by Decatur City Schools to the county.

The Helping Families Initiative, or simply HFI, works with 23 local agencies and organizations. District Attorney Scott Anderson told our news partners at the Decatur Daily that he modeled the program after a similar one in Mobile County.

Anderson said he has had some success with the program after introducing it last year.

“We had an honor student who all of a sudden, her grades dropped,” Anderson told our news partners. “She had problems, she was suspended and so she was sent to us. Her mother was dead, her father was working and he couldn’t get her to go to school.”

Anderson said his team was able to get the young woman into therapy, where she was diagnosed with an eating disorder. After reaching out to her, the HFI team began helping her catch up on her schoolwork.

“A very bright young lady,” Anderson said. “She completed an entire semester in one subject in one weekend. They thought she was cheating, but she was very smart.”

But Anderson said his team didn’t stop there. After she opened up to them about her favorite hobby, they told her she could make a career out of her hobbies. Now he’s helping her apply to college.

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