District comes close to attendance goal
Jun. 27—None of St. Joseph's public schools lost ground this year on the rate of getting kids to show up to class, but this remains a problem at differing scales.
The district reported 78.91% attendance for the 2022-2023 year. This percentage reflects the rate at which students are present for at least 9 in every 10 of their classroom hours. The state of Missouri expects districts to have each school record 80% or better on this scale, and preferably 90% or better. It will step up enforcement of this for the 2023-2024 academic year, which begins Aug. 21.
"A lot of it just has to do with, I think the culture is better today, than it was a year ago," Superintendent Gabe Edgar told the Board of Education on Monday. "You know, I think that's staff and students, both."
The best-attended school in the district is Eugene Field Elementary, at 94.35%. The worst-attended is Lafayette High School, at 67.28%. Lafayette also had the least amount of progress on improving attendance, at less than one-fifth of 1% rate of improvement. The school that saw the most progress is Hosea Elementary, with a 16.17% rate of improvement.
Hosea is among the schools that aim to make further progress by having an attendance interventionist obtain a Class E driver's license. This will enable them to drive a district van with up to 14 passengers. That's for the express purpose of gathering kids who have missed the bus and have no one available to drive them to school.
"A lot of times we'll have parents call in and they'll say, 'Hey, my car broke down this morning, sorry, the kids won't be in.' Whereas if we are able to go get them, that's going to make a huge difference," said Taylor Clinton, a teacher at Hosea who focuses on kids who struggle with math and science. "There also a lot of students who are motivated by our engagement efforts, and the incentives we offer."
Principal Bart Hardy, as he wraps up his first year leading Lafayette, said he is optimistic progress will be realized next year with help from the district's attendance interventionists. Administrators can handle student discipline, but a full-time staffer focused on engagement and communication makes all the difference, he said.
"They're going to figure out different things that work and don't work," Hardy said. "You know, just like teaching, one strategy doesn't work for all kids. So, you got to make sure you have a variety of tools in your toolbox that are going to get them here."
Of the 14 elementary schools, five (including Hosea) did not meet the 80% threshold. Of the four middle schools, none reported a score of 80% or better. The same doldrums apply to the three high schools. Truman Middle School and Lafayette are the only campuses that did not see attendance exceed 70%. However, Truman did improve by 5.27%.
"I think we've got to kind of think outside the box a little bit," said Hosea Principal Justin McCarthy, who marks five years in charge. "Just because we haven't traditionally done things, you know, doesn't mean that we can't change."
Marcus Clem can be reached at marcus.clem@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowClem
