Attendance team tackles absenteeism in KC schools
How do you get students to come to school -- and stay in school?
For years, districts across the metro have tried everything.
One school system we found - is starting fresh - with a new approach, focusing on teamwork.
Administrators in the Hickman Mills school district are working with a pilot program—selecting 15 to 20 kids with chronic absentee issues per school.
The district then uses an “attendance team,” comprised of a key group of staffers to help parents with a different approach.
"Instead of trying to really say, […] ‘You weren't here, why weren't you here?’ It's really trying more to be caring. "You weren't here. You really missed a lot of great instruction while you weren't here," explained Dr. Carl Skinner, the district’s deputy superintendent of student services.
The team asks about any issues a child's family may have. Then, at parent-teacher conferences, they fill out an attendance plan with parents—setting goals and listing people who could help them get their kids to class.
"It's not a 'gotcha' moment. It's a more informative moment -- to widen that conversation,” said Traci Pettis Johnson, a family-school liaison at Truman Elementary.
"We're going to revisit in a few months and see what's happening. It's not just signing a piece of paper,” she continued.
Administrators hope to apply what teams have learned into a districtwide program soon.