High School absenteeism climbing

by Olivia Ervin The Staunton Community Unit School District #6 Board of Education met in regular session at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 18. Board members present were P. Jain, J. Renner, C. Green, D. Lamore, and B. Best.

D. Rhodes and S. Legendre were absent. The meeting opened with the recognition of standout students and staff in the district. The board approved the consent agenda, which includes bills, payroll, and treasurer's report. They also approved the December 2021 meeting minutes; and approved the destruction of closed session recordings

older than 18 months.

Nancy Werden, educational services

coordinator, delivered a presentation on attendance in the district. She started by defining the difference between truant stu- dents (those who miss 5 percent of school days with no valid cause) and chronically absent students (those who miss 10 per- cent of school days with and without valid cause). Currently COVID-related absences are not counted towards truancy when the student participates in remote instruction.

Staunton Elementary has reported an absence rate of 12.6 to 14 percent in the last four quarters; junior high reported 9.5 percent during the third and fourth quarters of the 2020-2021 school year, with the first two quarters of the 2021-2022 school year being 14.8 percent and 17.2 percent respectively; and the high school reported absentee rates of 13.8 percent in the 2020- 2021 third quarter and 15.1 percent in the fourth, as well as 21.4 percent absenteeism in the first quarter of 2021-2022 and 25.6 percent in the second quarter of the current school year.

It is suspected that the high absentee rate at the high school is due to the instructional options offered last year (fully remote, hy- brid, and fully in-person) versus this year (in-person only); students who are out due to COVID-related reasons are unable to be counted as "in attendance" since they have no option to attend virtually. When Staunton observed an adaptive pause from Jan. 11 to Jan. 14, during which they offered only remote instruction for grades 8-12, absence ranged from 6.6 to 9.6 percent.

Preventative, intervention, and recovery programs are all being instated to improve attendance and get to the root of the prob- lem behind the rapid decline.

"Having strong relationships with educa- tors: teachers, mentors, or other positive adult role models, is among the strongest protective predictors in a student's life," Werden stressed.

Board president Poonam Jain inquired whether the graduation rate was directly impacted by declining attendance, or if college attendance was being impacted.

Werden stated that in general, poor attendance is related to decreased gradu- ation rates; however, she does not have exact numbers for Staunton specifically. She also said that college enrollment was declining slightly, but that could be due to the fact that many students were choosing to pursue career and technical education over classroom education.

Werden offered special thanks to the at- tendance clerk, Linda Thomas, for her dili- gence in getting kids back in the classroom whenever possible.

Interim superintendent Michael Kelly gave the superintendent's report. He opened

with the unfortunate news that the district is being pounded by a spike in COVID cases, especially in the elementary classes. And at the time of the meeting, the entire seventh grade class was put into remote learning as a result of contact tracing.

Kelly stated that the district was working in connection with the Macoupin County Public Health Department and the Illinois Department of Public Health, as well as under the advice of legal counsel, to make the best decisions possible in order to pro- tect the health of students, faculty, and staff.

He also indicated concern in line with the concerns of many downstate schools: Will we have enough staff to cover classes? Kelly stated that he tells the district employ- ees to be ready at any minute to have classes cancelled because there isn't enough staff to cover necessary positions. This expands to include bus drivers, making it difficult to secure transportation to and from school as well as extracurricular activities. With the increase of requirements to become a bus driver, the driver shortage will only get worse.

On a more positive note, Kelly indicated that the district had received approximately $48,000 from a maintenance grant, which will be used over the course of two years to overhaul the electrical system.

In the next order of business, the board discussed the fate of the church property. The district owns the former United Baptist Church building and the associated parson- age. It was stated that the parsonage is in such a state of disrepair, it is of no benefit to the students as classrooms, and not even of benefit to the district as storage. The board voted to have Kelly start the process of selling the parsonage.

Werden updated the board on some of the grant proposals she has submitted. Recently the district received $14,300 to help provide services and support for homeless students in the district, such as transportation, supplies, mobile hotspots, etc. Homeless students are those not residing in a fixed, regular, and adequate night- time residence. Werden is also working toward an approximately $66,000 grant to help develop a special education program for preschool students.

Superintendent Kelly then ad- dressed the board regarding the purchase of new school buses. It is anticipated that in February the district will receive $40,000 toward the purchase of a new bus provided that it runs on die- sel fuel, and the sale of any old buses could also be put toward the purchase as well. Unfortunately though, the bids are coming in much higher than originally expected. Kelly suggested that the district could opt to purchase a bus without air conditioning, stating that there are only a few instances of the students taking long trips in hot weather, and it would save the district a fairly significant amount of money. The discussion was tabled.

In the first order of new busi- ness, there was a discussion of mitigation measures related to COVID-19 and its impact on students' academic standing. High school principal Vince Hughes stated that the district should be entertaining at least one of three options, especially summer school, but also Saturday school and after-school tutoring programs. He said that some students' performance has never recovered from emergency re- mote learning that was instated in spring of 2019. He acknowledged that all of the options would be expensive, and that he under- stands the district could incur a penalty for paying staff salaries with federal funds, but having summer school is critical for stu- dents to graduate. Many of them will need to pass all of their cur- rent classes and recover a class to graduate. He further emphasized that this is 100 percent required: If they do not complete both parts, they will not graduate, period. The board voted to approve the establishment of a summer school program.

Werden addressed the board regarding a grant the district could potentially receive and re- quested that it be used to purchase a new handicap-accessible van or small bus with air condition- ing, as the current vehicle is high mileage and beginning to require extra maintenance and repairs. Her request will be honored if the grant is received.

In the final order of new busi- ness, the Staunton High School Course Handbook was reviewed. Principal Vince Hughes stated that some things may need to be adjusted in the future, as it is unclear whether Mt. Olive will be offering SLU English courses, or what fees students may have to pay in order to participate in classes with Lewis and Clark Community College. The hand- book was approved with the stipulation that the Lewis and Clark portion be amended in a future meeting.

The board entered into closed session at 8:35 p.m. After closed session the board took the follow- ing actions:

Accepted the resignation of Monica Boyer as an elementary/ junior high secretary effective immediately.

Accepted the retirement of paraprofessional Denise Ondes effective at the conclusion of the 2021-2022 school year.

Accepted the retirement of kin- dergarten teachers Leanne Brown and Angela Heim effective at the conclusion of the 2021-2022 school year.

Employed William Hester as the assistant high school girls' soccer coach for the 2022 season.

Employed Dustin Petroline as a substitute custodian.

Employed John Davin and Steven Zielezinski as substitute bus drivers.

Employed Melinda Hampton as a part-time speech-language pathologist.

Approved a memorandum of agreement with the SFT related to out-of-state credit for licensed staff.

Due to confidentiality, The Board of Education voted to keep all closed session minutes during the past six months closed.