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POSTED: Monday, October 13, 2008

Mark Coleman: What's your work title?

Vaito'i “;To'i”; Tuala: My work title is truancy prevention case manager.

Q: How come you're employed by the Susannah Wesley Community Center and not the state Department of Education?

A: It's through a grant. My program is funded by the state Office of Youth Services.

Q: How long have you been doing this?

A: It's going into its second year.

Q: How do get a job like that?

A: Good personality ... (Laughter) ... Bachelor's degree, of course ... Just wanting to work with people, mainly students in middle school or high school.

Q: What kind of bachelor's degree do you have?

A: I have a communications degree, from Washington State University.

Q: As a truancy prevention case manager, you're assigned to just Kalakaua Middle School?

A: Yes.

Q: How come you're assigned to only one school? Do they have lots of truants there?

A: Well, it's just a pilot program for the Kalihi-Palama area. I'm not the only one in Kalihi that's doing this project with this grant. There's also a case coordinator with PACT (Parents and Children Together) with the Dole Middle School.

Q: So middle school is what grades?

A: Kalakaua is sixth, seventh and eighth.

Q: What about other schools in the state? Who tracks down the truants from those schools?

A: I have no idea, to be honest. (Laughter) I know with Waipahu Intermediate, it would be Parks and Rec.

Q: They keep an eye out for truants?

A: Yes. They have the project “;Hoomana,”; which is a Saturday-attendance program for the truants.

Q: What kinds of legal powers do you actually have to deal with truants?

A: That's a hard question, because we're a nonprofit organization. There's no fees that the parents have to pay for our services. We do try to help at-risk youth to get back into school. We do make contact with the school administrators and counselors and parents, and should the student have a probation officer, we try to jump on board so we're not all working with the youth in different areas, but rather are all working together toward the same goal.

Q: So you're role is to engage in counseling with the students?

A: Yes.

Q: How does that work?

A: Usually individually. I wouldn't want them to feel uncomfortable around other students regarding their personal lives.

Q: So besides counseling students who are referred to you, you help look for students, too, right?

A: Yes, I do help look for students. I accompany counselors on home visits to check if students are at home or to make contact with parents face-to-face - especially if it's difficult in contacting the parents or family by phone. If I'm unable to reach the family at home, a visit to the parents' work is the next option.

Q: Where do you mostly find the kids hanging out?

A: Mostly I find them hanging out in other people's homes. Sometimes they're just walking up and down King Street.

Q: Do the students ever run when they see you coming?

A: Students have never run away from me. Maybe they'll hide behind doors, but they eventually come out from behind.

Q: Are you ever in any physical danger?

A: I haven't been in any physical danger so far.

Q: Are the truants usually boys, or are girls well represented, too?

A: The girls are well represented. It's an equal field. (Laughter)

Q: Would you say these truants are generally pretty nice kids, aside from the fact that they're skipping school?

A: Yes. Some of them are very bright. Part of the reason why they wouldn't want to come to school is either they're far behind on the concept, or they just don't feel comfortable in the school environment. My goal is to just try to get them to take baby steps to introduce them back into the school system, little by little.

Q: How much time do you spend actually looking for truants.

A: Usually I get them through the school. The students are referred to the center by the school. But I do find them walking around during school hours, just on the street.

Q: What kind of trouble do they get in?

A: They either get arrested or returned to the school. From there they either are suspended or they have to serve detention.

Q: That's kind of weird to suspend them, yeah?

A: Yeah, it is weird. Because if they're not coming to school, why suspend them even more? I would like to see that changed. Even though these kids aren't going to school, it's kind of pointless to suspend them and have them miss more school, so that's where I jump in and try to help them catch up with their school, so they don't fall behind. So currently, right now, I have a student in my program, who is here at the center, during his fall break, working on his correspondence.

Q: What's that?

A: It's a program where the school orders a packet for the student, either from New Jersey or Pennsylvania, on a particular subject - math, English, science - and it's supposed to cover a whole sixth-, seventh- or eighth-grade year, depending on the subject.

Q: And that helps them catch up?

A: It helps them catch up. If the student is a repeater, they take, like, English 7. If they pass English 7, then they can work only on their eighth-grade year at school.

Q: When you're not out looking for truants, what else do you do on the job?

A: I'm creating power points, meeting with other staff members in the center, to create better youth service assistance.

Q: Do you have a lot of paperwork to fill out related to your job?

A: A lot of progress notes.

Q: And who reads those?

A: Our performance- and quality-improvement committee, and my program administrator.

Q: Who is that?

A: Stanley Inkyo.

Q: What do you do when school is out of session?

A: When school is out of session, I either meet with students individually, or I'm creating other ways to help students in school. So drafting ideas, pretty much - and catching up on prog notes. (Laughter)

Q: How long do you think you'll want to do this job?

A: Probably another year or two.

Q: And then what?

A: And then we'll see from there. Pretty much go with the flow.

Q: Any intention of going back to school?

A: Yes.

Q: Like what? Any idea?

A: A lot of people have been pushing me to go for my master's in social work.