Who We Are

The STARS initiative is a collaborative, comprehensive, and preventive effort to improve the growth of students educationally, emotionally and socially.  STARS has been active in the Adams County area since 2009.  The program collaborated with a variety of stakeholders in the community to implement and deliver a comprehensive program that addresses truancy and excessive absences within the public school system.  This program is designed to move away from a traditional punitive approach in dealing with excessive absences to a problem-solving program.  Through a thorough examination of community resources, risk and protective factors, and current research, a number of goals, objectives and outcomes were determined to improve the attendance, graduation rates and deter further juvenile delinquency of our local youth. 

The STARS program works with students with truancy and chronic absenteeism as well the families of these students.  The program is designed to meet with students and families to address attendance concerns as well as reasons behind the absences. The program utilizes a staffing team consisting of the County Attorney’s office, school personnel and local mental health providers to help engage problem solving.

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STARS is available to students K-12 in all of Adams, Webster, Clay, Nuckolls, Kearney, Franklin and Phelps counties in Nebraska.