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District outlines expanded social‑work support, monitoring to lower chronic absenteeism
Summary
District leaders told the Iredell‑Statesville Schools Board on July 14 that roughly 4,072 students were classified as chronically absent last school year and outlined an expanded social‑work and monitoring strategy to reduce absenteeism.
District leaders told the board on July 14 that chronic absenteeism remains a significant issue and outlined new staffing and operational steps intended to reduce the number of students missing 10 percent or more of school days.
"When we look at chronic absenteeism ... any student who has missed 10% or more of school," Mark Vaughn, director of student well‑being and alternative services, told the board, describing the state definition and noting absences include excused and unexcused days as well as out‑of‑school suspensions.
District figures presented to the board showed roughly 20,512 students in the district and 4,072 students classified as chronically absent in the 2023–24 school year; staff estimated the district rate for 2024–25 will be about 19–20 percent. Statewide chronic absenteeism was cited at about 27 percent for the most recent complete year.
Leaders said COVID‑era disruption and a mix of health, mental‑health, transportation, housing instability and school‑experience factors drive many absences. Jessica Smith, director of student services and family support, described actions the district is taking to reduce absences and reengage students:
- Add social‑work capacity: the district—s school‑based mental‑health grant funds 12 social workers assigned across 24 sites; other schools will have an on‑call social worker. - Weekly monitoring: attendance will be tracked weekly and parent notification letters issued at 3, 6 and 10 unexcused absences. - Root‑cause analysis and attendance agreements: social workers will perform attendance assessments at six unexcused absences and convene attendance agreement meetings at 10 unexcused absences; the district aims to rely on family engagement to reduce court referrals. - Truancy filings and court process: the district reported 108 new truancy cases this year; staff said they aim to limit court uses but will file when required by law. - Targeted supports: schools received spreadsheets of chronically absent students to seed social‑worker caseloads and to coordinate nursing, behavior teams and other supports where needed.
Jessica Smith said the district also will prioritize McKinney‑Vento coding accuracy for students experiencing housing instability, noting that the way those students are coded can change reported rates. The presentation documented 174 chronically absent students identified as McKinney‑Vento and 28 medically fragile students who were chronically absent in 2023–24.
Board members asked about work schedules, foster care and how chronic absenteeism ties to school performance and graduation. Several members praised the new social‑work staffing and asked for an annual breakdown by school and a quarterly reporting cadence. Superintendent staff offered to provide school‑level reporting and to put chronic absenteeism on a continuing task‑force agenda.
No policy action was taken; the presentation summarized the current interventions, staffing assignments and next steps for tracking and parent outreach.
