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District reports on student support, counseling and family survey: attendance, behavior and safety highlighted
Summary
Student support services, counseling and family-survey presentations covered dyslexia services, MTSS progress, attendance and truancy data, the start of mental-health training and an overview of family survey results that praised teachers while flagging behavior and finance communication as areas for improvement.
Northwest Independent School District staff reported on student support services, counseling and the district’s family survey during Monday’s board meeting, highlighting programs and data on attendance, behavior supports and family feedback.
Student support services: Micah Gerke, director (student support services presenter), said about 2,000 students are receiving direct dyslexia services and staff exited roughly 300 students from the MTA program this year. The district said roughly 12 percent of students receive MTSS (multi-tiered system of supports) interventions; staff reported progress moving students from Tier 3 to Tier 2 when appropriate. Gerke also said specialized-program enrollments for newly arrived students are increasing, presenting classroom staffing and space challenges.
Counseling and attendance: Janie Farber, director (counseling), outlined a set of wellness and safety initiatives including a wellness ambassador program, mental-health-first-aid training for staff and plans for an evening counseling clinic serving grades 3–12 at Northwest High School. The district’s average daily attendance (ADA) ended the year at 95.2 percent. Farber said the truancy referral total for the year was 909 students and explained the statutory threshold for formal truancy is ten unexcused absences in a six-month period; staff described restorative interventions and court filing where families do not engage with supports.
Family survey: administration presented results from the district’s biennial family survey. Safety, classroom instruction and communication were families’ top priorities. Overall satisfaction rates were high in most categories, with emergency communications and school cleanliness among the highest-scoring questions. Respondents also flagged student behavior and discipline and understanding of school finance as areas needing improvement; staff said these issues align with the district’s ongoing Emergent Tree implementation and will inform next-year goals.
Why it matters: the reports reflect both program successes (dyslexia services, educator support and community-serving programs) and continuing challenges (student behavioral interactions, chronic absenteeism and community understanding of school finance). Board members asked for clear, community-facing explanations about behavior initiatives, attendance expectations and financial impacts.
Next steps: staff will continue to expand mental-health training, launch the after-hours counseling clinic in the fall, pursue attendance interventions and integrate family-survey findings into campus goals and communications plans.
