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Warren Township board approves 2025–26 staffing, discusses shifting attendance-support roles
Summary
The board approved staffing recommendations for the 2025–26 school year and discussed whether to refocus or not refill one attendant specialist position after mixed results over two years. District leaders described plans to reprogram phone prompts and hold parent-portal workshops to address attendance barriers.
The Warren Township High School District 121 Board of Education voted June 10 to approve staffing recommendations for the 2025–26 school year and held an extended discussion about the district’s two attendant specialist positions, which focus on student attendance supports.
The board’s action to approve the staffing recommendations was made by motion and passed by a roll call vote with six yes votes. The board then heard from district administrators about whether a currently open attendant specialist position should be filled immediately or repurposed.
"It's not part of the formal recommendation right now, but related because it's staffing," said Dr. Danny Wiesman, superintendent, explaining the discussion would focus on attendance-support roles. Wiesman said the district had previously approved two attendant specialists—one at each campus—but administrators have questioned the positions' effectiveness in their current configuration and are considering a different deployment of that FTE.
Administrators told the board that the attendant specialists initially focused on students already at high levels of absence and that the district tried shifting the role to earlier interventions. Wiesman said working earlier in students' school careers (for example, before attendance problems become entrenched in juniors and seniors) may be more effective.
Wiesman described the skills and tools attendant specialists use: "It's two things. It's love and persuasion would be the first bucket. You're just trying to love families back to the building and help them work through parents or...Secondly, they do have a budget for incentives and prizes." He added, "The attendant specialists are are mostly carrot, no stick." Those comments were offered as the administrative team described a possible reorganization of attendance supports.
Board members and administrators also raised operational barriers that can limit attendance outreach. Staff reported feedback from a recent BPAC (Board Parent Advisory Committee) meeting that some families struggle with phone-menu prompts and the PowerSchool parent portal; non-English-speaking callers sometimes hang up because English-only prompts are not accessible, and some parents do not know how to navigate the portal to confirm absences.
Administrators said short-term steps under consideration include reprogramming telephone prompts to simplify Spanish and English options and offering parent workshops—for example, during freshman orientation—on how to use the PowerSchool portal. The district also noted that one attendant specialist position is currently vacant at the Almond campus; administrators proposed leaving the O'Plaine attendant specialist in place for another year while rethinking the vacant position's role and location.
No formal vote was taken to eliminate or reassign the attendant specialist position at the June 10 meeting; the approved staffing recommendations did not include changes to the current FTE count. Administrators said they will continue to analyze attendance data before finalizing any reorganization, and they emphasized the district must be careful with personnel decisions given salary-and-benefits budget constraints.
Board members signaled support for data-driven adjustments. "If it's not working, then stop doing it," one board member said during the discussion; another asked whether the district would commit to specific follow-up steps, such as reprogramming phone prompts and scheduling parent training sessions.
The staffing approval and the attendance discussion were part of a broader superintendent's report and subsequent action items at the June 10 meeting. District staff indicated they will return with data and any formal recommendations for reassigning or reconfiguring attendant specialist duties if the administrative team decides to alter the positions.
Speakers quoted or referenced in this article are those who participated in the June 10 Board of Education meeting and the attendant-specialist discussion. The board's vote approved the staffing recommendations for 2025–26 as presented at that meeting.
