Holliston's safe-and-supportive schools coordinator reports drop in chronic absenteeism, outlines sustainability plan

Jeriel Vernay, Holliston's district coordinator for Safe and Supportive Schools, reported Sept. 25 that the district has seen measurable declines in chronic absenteeism and outlined plans to sustain and integrate social-emotional and behavioral supports across the district.

Vernay told the committee the district's chronic absenteeism has dropped 6.2 percentage points over two years and that every major student subgroup showed decreases. "We have continued to show those gains here in Holliston," Vernay said, adding the improvement reflects coordinated teaming among educators, counselors, school psychologists and families.

Vernay described his work as an integration of SEL (social-emotional learning), PBIS (positive behavioral interventions and supports), trauma-sensitive practices and mental-health services. He said the district's aim is to build sustainable systems at the school level'not programs that rely solely on fluctuating grant funds. "This work is about integration, sustainability and adaptation," he said.

Vernay described several operational items the district is using to sustain progress: a district safe-and-supportive leadership team with representation from each school; an SSP (school support personnel) professional learning community and monthly teaming around chronic-absence cases; and ongoing partnerships with agencies including MetroWest adolescent health and local HDAC (local substance-abuse coalition). He said the MetroWest adolescent health survey will run again at the high school this fall and provide new data for spring analysis.

Vernay also raised a funding concern: a grant that previously provided about $100,000 for SEL and mental-health work was cut by roughly 63 percent, leaving about $35,000 this year. "My focus this year is about sustainability," he said, noting that previous years'funding levels enabled broader programming that may not be replicable at the reduced level.

Vernay reported other initiatives the district has implemented: coordination with the police on a "Handle With Care" notification process, expanded family workshops on executive-functioning and cyber safety, school-level integration of PBIS and RULER lessons, and a student leadership council to provide direct student feedback to the district. He emphasized the district treats "safe and supportive" as an ongoing way of being, not a time-limited initiative: "It's not an initiative. It's a way of being," he said.

What the meeting recorded: Vernay presented attendance metrics, described continuing gains and urged a focus on school-level teams and sustainability in light of reduced grant funding. Committee members did not take formal action during the presentation; the report will inform upcoming school presentations and program planning.

Sources: presentation by Jeriel Vernay at Sept. 25 meeting, transcript of his remarks.