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New truancy officer starts in Wahoo
By Kris Byars
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| LOOKING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: Saunders County Truancy Resource Officer Anastazia Bauer is working hard to a build a program that will benefit the youth of Saunders County. (Staff Photo by Kris Byars) |
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Anastazia Bauer is originally from Morse Bluff. She graduated from North Bend Central High School and recently obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She has done internships at both Boys Town and the Spring Center.
Originally, Bauer said her plan had been to find a part-time job and start working on her master’s degree. However, when she heard about the truancy resource officer position that was being established in her home county, she decided it was something worth pursuing.
“I had decided this was the job I wanted,” she said.
Once she made that decision, things started moving quickly.
“Within a week’s time, I have turned in my resume and had been to two different interviews,” she said.
Bauer’s first day on the job was Sept. 1. Since that time, she has been busy getting the program set up. Her first few days were spent just familiarizing herself with the grant that provided funds for the position.
The goal of the position is to have someone who can work with students and families in Saunders County to help stop a truancy problem before it ends up on the county attorney’s desk.
Bauer said that, since truancy issues are her only job, she’ll be able to take a more in-depth look into each student’s case and determine what underlying factors might be leading to the students absences.
“If I can get one kid to school, it helps the school, it helps me and it helps the program,” she said.
The truancy resource officer position was a need that was identified by county officials while developing a three-year comprehensive plan. It has been funded through Nebraska Crime Commission Grant 09-CA-526 for a possible two years.
Bauer has also been able to sit down with representatives from the various resource organizations and agencies throughout the area.
“I felt like, I was going to be the resource officer, I needed to know where the resources are,” she said.
After that round of appointments, Bauer then began to confer with officials at both the Wahoo and Ashland public school districts. These represent the two largest student populations in the county.
Speaking with officials, Bauer worked to isolate the specific needs area schools were likely to have, and began to develop an infrastructure of forms and policies for the program.
Bauer began to take on her first few cases from these two districts. These early cases have helped her to refine the program to the point where she is ready to open it up to all the school districts in Saunders County.
According to Saunders County Attorney Scott Tingelhoff, everyone involved in the process of creating the program has been looking forward to this.
“We’re really excited,” he said. “We’re getting ready to meet with each of the individual schools.”
During the first two, grant-funded years of the program, Bauer said her goal is to build a strong program that provides enough benefits to area schools and youth to help justify alternate funding in the future either from the county itself or the schools she is helping to serve.
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