Pulaski schools report improved attendance and fewer behavioral incidents; district briefed on new VDOE accountability metrics

Superintendent Robert Graham reported to the Pulaski County School Board on Jan. 14 that December attendance improved from the prior year and that district chronic absenteeism decreased, which staff said contributed to better year‑to‑date attendance metrics. He also told the board that behavior incidents generally declined compared with the prior year.

In a separate briefing the superintendent and assistant superintendents explained Virginia’s new accountability framework that will be used for federal and state identification and support. Under the new model, schools receive points for mastery, growth and readiness, with different weightings at elementary, middle and high‑school levels. The division shared an estimate based on last spring’s scores showing most Pulaski schools would fall into the on‑track category under the new system, with the exception of the virtual school and Pulaski Middle (the middle school was noted as "credited with conditions"). The superintendent said Kreiser (a school referenced in the briefing) is a CSI (Comprehensive Support and Improvement) school that receives federal funds and that staff continue to prioritize turnaround work there.

Why it matters: attendance and behavior metrics feed into student outcomes and are components of federal/state accountability; the new VDOE model shifts emphasis across mastery, growth and readiness and could change federal/state identifications and monitoring for some schools.

Key items from the report and briefing: - Attendance: December saw improvement over the prior year; the middle and high schools remain a focus for reaching a 94% target. - Chronic absenteeism: staff reported a year‑over‑year improvement for the December period. - Behavior: overall incidents declined by approximately 23% from the prior period, according to staff summary remarks. - VDOE accountability: staff walked the board through new designations (distinguished/on track/off track/needs intensive support), component weightings (mastery, growth, readiness) and federal identification categories; most local schools were estimated to be on track based on prior year data, but some Title I and middle‑school concerns remain.

Board members asked whether off‑track or needs‑intensive categories would trigger state support; staff said that such designations typically result in VDOE monitoring and potential federal monitoring and that supports and monitoring models are still being refined at the state level. The superintendent and administrators emphasized continued focus on culture, CTE opportunities and targeted interventions to move schools out of identification statuses.

Ending: Staff said they will track spring SOL (Standards of Learning) results under the new framework and report back; board members expressed satisfaction with the direction of attendance and behavior trends while noting continued focus on improvement at the identified schools.