Click to go to the page link. 
You will ALL need to be at these meetings and put forward what and how you feel about what they are doing to the Truancy Services in New Zealand.

The one fact which seems to be very apparent is that the New Zealand Ministry of Education (MoE) are NOT combining the Non Enrolled (NETS) and District Truancy Service's (DTS) into one Integrated Service as they have said. In combining the Services, one would be led to think that they would use the existing Services and Integrate them using their current expertise. 
(Quote - The MoE acknowledges that current DTS providers are the repositories of knowledge and expertise regarding supporting schools to return students to education in a timely manner with appropriate supports)

What is really happening here is that they are constructing a NEW SERVICE 
and totally ignoring the current experienced  practitioners, though wanting their operating information to 'kick start' the new Service. (Re: Environmental Scan).
Every Lawyer I have discussed this with agree that this is totally unethical.

Integrated attendance service - Questions and answers1. (Revised) What are the timelines for the new service?The Integrated Attendance Service will offer services to schools from the start of Term 4 2012. Current District Truancy Service (DTS) Agreements and the Non-Enrolled Truancy Service (NETS) contracts will be extended until the end of Term 3, 2012 to maintain service continuity.This timeframe will allow for a smooth transition to the integrated service without a break in service delivery for schools, minimising the risks to students’ attendance and their achievement.During the six months January to October 2012, the lead regional/national provider(s) will:

• establish the structure of the integrated Attendance Service in each region
• incorporate the knowledge and experience of effective practice of the existing DTS and NETS
• recruit, induct and train staff
• build relationships with schools and social service agencies to ensure the delivery of an effective service from day one of Term 3, 2012.

Tēnā koe Stephan, 
Thank you for your email.  I am responding as the Acting Group Manager, Education, Curriculum and Performance, while J W on secondment.  
You will have received correspondence yesterday regarding the Minister’s agreement to further extend District Truancy Service Agreements for three months through to the end of Term 3, 2012.  
We are pleased to be able to confirm this further extension to allow sufficient time to make the necessary changes to the service design and service areas, in preparation for the next stage of the procurement process. 
The integrated Attendance Service is planned to roll out from Term 4, 2012. 
The Ministry attendance website Question and Answer (QA) regarding the timeframe is correct.  This QA was updated to align with the correspondence sent to DTS, NETS, pilot providers and other interested parties.
Because of an administrative error, the information was posted on the attendance website before the email notification went out to these groups. 
I apologise for any confusion this may have caused. 
DTS Agreement extension information will be provided in March/April 2012.
Ngā mihi C M

Top Marks CM....sd

ALL Truancy Officers nz.
Please send me your contact points so that you can be reached in regard to the Truancy Officer's nz planned interventions to the New Attendance Service.

You can use the 'contact author' tab or send me details to ctdts@xtra.co.nz.
Currently this site is getting 80+ hits a day. 

The MoE seem to be NOT answering the questions given to them. 
As a 'collective' they will have to listen, unless of course they are as some have said 'dictatorial' in their approach.

Here are a few questions unanswered.
*Why are the current DTS and NETS employee's NOT guaranteed a position in the New Service when they are the experts in their field?

*Will the New Service be working under Section 31 Education Act 1989?
If so 
*Will there be a Law change with Section 20. ALL nz citizens 6 - 16 must attend school?


*Do the DTS's have to provide the MoE with the 'Environmental Scan'? 
This document  appears to be  a totally unethical document.  
The MoE has stated clearly that they are NOT the employer of the DTS employee's. 
The information to be provided (Environmental Scan) is the property of the DTS.

Integrated Attendance Service Timeframe 
The Education Minister has agreed to a further three month extension to District Truancy Service (DTS) Agreements, the Non-Enrolled Truancy Service (NETS) Contract and the Attendance Pilots in South Auckland and Gisborne and the East Coast.  
This will mean extending DTS, NETS and the pilots until the end of Term 3, 2012. Agreement and contract extension information will be provided in March/April 2012. The Integrated Attendance Service will offer services to schools from the start of Term 4, 2012. 
Timeframe background 
The Expression of interest (EOI) process to identify service providers who would be invited to tender (via a closed Request for Proposals – RFP) to provide the Attendance Service for the four ministry regions was completed early in December 2011. The EOI process provided information that identified to the ministry that some service design changes were required and also the size of the proposed service areas created risks and challenges for service implementation. The ministry is now working on refining the design and also the definition of a larger number of service areas that continue to meet the key objectives of the service. The current procurement process is now completed and a new tender process will be announced shortly.  This will be in the form of an open Request for Proposals (RFP). The purpose and aims of the new Attendance Service have not changed and the key objectives as defined in the original EOI are still valid and current.   
The new Attendance Service is still scheduled to be operational in 2012. 
Information road show 
The ministry will soon be announcing a schedule of information briefing sessions in early March for all stakeholders and potential service providers to be held in local ministry office areas nationally. 
Attendance Service information is available on the ministry website www.minedu.govt.nz/attendance . 

Greetings again J
I trust all is well.
I have been contacted today from another DTS regarding the following time-frame which is on the MoE Website  (below)
** Current District Truancy Service (DTS) Agreements and the Non-Enrolled Truancy Service (NETS) contracts will be extended until the end of Term 3, 2012 to maintain service continuity. **
Is this correct? It is different from what our Agreement/Contracts say:
**Third variation Agreement  is extended to 15 July 2012 **


I sent this letter on the 3/2/12...sd

General Manager ECRENational OfficeMinistry of Education 
I am writing this letter out of concern, regarding the future of the District Truancy Services in New Zealand.
The MoE has said in its correspondence that it is to merge the Non Enrolled Truancy Service (NETS) and the District Truancy Service (DTS) into one Integrated Attendance Service.Patiently we Truancy Officers have waited for the MoE to make its move, though none of us, the experts in the field, who also have recognition from the MoE of this, agree with what the MoE are doing. (The MoE seems NOT to be listening) 
I have contact with MOST DTS’s in this country. All have said the same.‘If it’s NOT broken, why fix it! (who said it was broken?) 
I have been a Truancy Officer in this Service (DTS) for 13 years. A dedicated Officer/Operator, a frontline worker who worked for the first 8 years as a part time (20hrs/wk) sole operator, propping the position up with ‘other’ part time work. This was no easy task. I then took over the second Truancy position 5 years ago (20hrs/wk) which put me in a fulltime position. I now employ two other Truancy Officers covering a huge geographical area within the Central North Island. 
Over this time I have refined both the Services to where they are now. 
I have also ‘introduced’ other ‘supportive services’ within my areas to help attend to the problem of Truancy. This service actually has teeth now. A design far cheaper than what the MoE had proposed (Re: prosecution) In fact the cost for this is NIL! (The MoE design will cost thousands of dollars). 

I received a letter from you on 5th December saying you are now to; review the service design and composition before you proceed further with the tendering process’ (5/12/2011 letter) Another ‘Tendering Process’. How long will this take? 
Our patience is running very thin already. 
My concern is that the officers we employ may NOT be with us for long as we can only guarantee them work to the 5th July 2012. They may seek or be offered work elsewhere. Most have families and financial commitments.
I find all this interesting as the MoE guaranteed RTLB’s a position in their recent change, a similar situation, but NOT DTS’s. Yet the MoE say they appreciate the DTSs and the work they do . Its no wonder that many don’t believe what the MoE are saying. I was always taught that the 'proof was in the pudding'. 
To me it is a senseless move to disband and loose a successful operation and its people. These people  are NOT trained overnight and have a world of experience within their allotted communities.
Any changes of direction to the service need to be communicated very quickly as to NOT loose these people. 

You have in the new contract/agreement asked for an ‘Environmental Scan’.
I have had this contract/agreement checked by a Lawyer and he is in agreement with me that this part of the document is totally ‘unethical’. Other DTS’s also agree with this. As I have communicated before, if you were to contract Telecom to do your communications then after 18 years through suggested change asked for an environmental scan (how and who they operate with) as you are asking the DTS’s, they would laugh at the suggestion and give you nothing. Especially with NO guarantee of continuance. 
The operations manuals of any organization in this country are the property of the organization/contractee NOT the contractor and are protected by confidentiality and copyright. (you still have mine) 

The MoE in its introduction letter in the new contracts have made it very clear that they are NOT the employer of the DTS. I guess this protects them from any backlash from DTS employee's. 
If you want the expertise of the DTS's you need to keep them informed and employed. 
Accurate time-framing is paramount. History shows that this is not so.

Any business that lets its experienced workers ‘go’ is most unwise and it will be detrimental to the future of the business. In this case detrimental to future nz'ers. 

I have also suggested recently that the MoE brings together key DTS officers (Nation wide) as a group  3 or 4 times a year to discuss benchmarks, organizational process’ for ALL DTS’s throughout NZ. This would help with congruency and direction.
There is NO need to form another ‘goliath’ organization that will suck up the extra money allocated toward the DTS's by Government. Especially one that has little or no experience in DTS business. It’s just another waste of time and money and I wonder who is advising this?

The Truancy Services in NZ have always wanted ‘recognition’ 'congruency' and a ‘National Data Base’.
Imagine the excitement when ENROL was developed. BUT it was NEVER offered to Truancy Officers. I would be one of the few who got on board when this was introduced through our base school.
ENROL could be modified to include a ‘database’ for the Truancy Services. No need to develop ANOTHER system.
Our area developed an excellent computerized Data Base which works in with the MoE Milestone. This can be checked from my website www.truancynzctdts.com. 
This system is used nationwide by many other DTS providers. 

I would appreciated to get some kind of response from this communication.
I sent an email to our Prime Minister regarding this but as yet NO response. Maybe I will approach the opposition? This seems to be the norm unfortunately and these people are supposed to be ‘Public Servants’? 

This email has also been cc'd to MP’s,DTS's, key schools and a copy will be on my website blog. 

Please excuse my ‘passion’ I am a dedicated concerned Truancy Officer. 

Kind Regards
Stephan P DyerSenior Truancy Officer Central Taranaki DTS, South Taranaki DTS, BoT Member SHS, Counsellor Pvt Practice,NZEI Support Staff Rep SHS. 

Hi S p,

Moa Brady has just posted a comment on your blog post, Post Title.:

Kia Ora Hi to all DTS's Hope and pray a miracle takes place before the third term We are Moa & Bessie Brady. I Moa have run Eastern Bay District Truancy Service from the start for 18 years. Have operated from home for 13 years. Bessie has come on board for the last 12 years. Our DTS programme which differs from most has gone out to five different DTS's. The Eastern Bay DTS and our School and Police forum way back put together a programme (now called rock on) which was introduced at a MOE conference in Wellington and there put on hold for 5 years and then turned up altered a bit and called "rock on" In February MOE will be going throughout NZ with what they are calling the "road show" MOE's intention with the road show is to inform Agencies, Iwi's and others who want to tender for regions to tender. My issue is any Agencies or Iwi's who may win the tenders, most will want to use there own workers who will have absolutely no knowlege or expereience with chronic or even just truant kids and their Families. MOE is so behind the eight ball, they are trying to fix something that isn't broke". For all of this time all they had to do was bring together all the DTS's and gain from them all of the knowledge and expertise to make the best decision to improve any or all the help required for our dysfuntional and Families at risk in our regions. DTS's are still the first through the doors of these Families. therefore know exactly what interventions need to be put in place Most nights we are still working at 9.30pm and most weekends finding the right people with the right skills and expertise, but all of these skills and know ledge DTS's have means absolutely nothing to MOE. I have come to the conclusion based on four regional meetings with our DTS's and contacting MOE Wellington for information, and them continually stating there is a confidentuality clause, they haven't got any idea on what to put in place and how it can be put in place. We as the DTS's do need to come together maybe in Taupo (the most central place for us all) toward the begining (if not earlier) and discuss our options. I am sure NETs would like to attend as well. Contact me if you want atthebradys@maxnet.co.nz

I have a  Lawyer friend of mine checking the 'Amended' 'Roll over' Agreement for 2012.
The query is:
 Environmental Scan: 
*Does the MoE have a 'right' to ask for the DTS's to hand over their operations manuals? Basically this is what they are asking. In my mind and as a designer of two Manuals, I believe that these are the property of the DTS. 
The MoE have only ever been the 'funder' and guider of the agreements:
*Are we obliged to comply?
*Can we challenge the MoE on the added 'Environmental Scan' to a 'Roll over' Agreement?
*Is it ethical for the MoE to be asking us for the 'Environmental Scan'?
who then may pass this information on to 'another' provider of NO experience with NO guarantee of the DTS or NETS having continued employment?

Kia Ora Stephan 
Yes I did see that though we havn't done anything about it, it seems a bit of cheek really, not going to furnish anything until instructed, its great to get our contracts rolled over for another 6 months but you have to wonder why and what they're doing in that 6 months. 
I think it would be good for us to all meet in the New Year and talk through this issue, uncertain times for sure.