At its meeting this week, the ETSD Board of Education approved the initiative as a district goal during the next two years.
The Evesham Township School District is planning to combat chronic absenteeism among its students during the next two years as part of its district goals for 2017–2019.
The ETSD Board of Education approved the goals at its meeting last week, including a goal to “enhance district protocols and procedures” to decrease chronic absenteeism rates wherever possible to positively impact student achievement.
According to Superintendent John Scavelli Jr., chronic absenteeism is defined as students who miss 10 percent or more of their eligible school days a year or 18 days or more of the standard 180-day school year.
Scavelli said the percent of students who exhibit chronic absenteeism varies by each school, from 4 percent to 5 percent of students at a school on the low end of the spectrum to 10 percent at a school on the high end.
Scavelli described overall attendance rates across the district as “good,” with about 95 percent of students attending school daily on average. However, Scavelli said those figures still translate
to about nine absences a year on average per child.
“We’re specifically addressing the chronic absenteeism, but we also hope to reduce overall absenteeism that we have as a school district for the simple purpose that it’s hard for kids to learn if they’re not here,” Scavelli said.
Board member Dennis Mehigan questioned how the district would measure success on the initiative, to which director of curriculum and instruction Danielle Magulick said the district would begin with an analysis and review of baseline attendance data starting in the fall.
Throughout the year, staff would develop an action plan for schools, revise attendance protocols and procedures, attend state trainings related to absenteeism rates, develop a staff/parent information night and share information with the board as the district evaluates the implementation of the year-one goal in June.
“You are looking to get your baseline and then you’re going to be looking at has that been affected or not positively,” Magulick said.
The district would then continue with necessary revisions for the 2018–2019 school year.
During the discussion, board member William McGoey also questioned how closely the district would be working to engage parents on the issue of their children’s absences.
“They (students) can’t not just decide to go to school,” McGoey said.
Board member Joe Fisicaro Jr. said he agreed, and said in his experience as a teacher with the Lenape Regional High School District, absenteeism in students could often times be related more to anxiety in a student rather than simple laziness.
“A part of combating this chronic absenteeism, it’s not just about calling a kid and getting them to school, it’s about figuring out what the hell is going on at home as well,” Fisicaro said.
For that reason, Fisicaro said he was happy the district was trying to address chronic absenteeism now, as students were younger, instead of letting the problem potentially worsen as they reached high school.
Magulick said the district has seen an uptick in anxiety at the elementary level over time, and the district’s counselors have started seeking additional professional development during the past several years to help deal with the issue.
Magulick said counsel would be the first step in working with any parents with a child where absences start to become a problem.
