Derby schools outline attendance strategies as many buildings remain above state goal

Rachel Eastman, principal at Cooper Elementary, and district staff presented the board with school-level attendance work and a district-wide chronic absenteeism update, saying several buildings remain above the state goal of roughly 12–13 percent.

At the meeting, Eastman described Cooper’s mix of classroom and schoolwide strategies aimed at improving daily attendance and reducing chronic absenteeism. “We are still a ways off from our target of 13 percent,” Eastman said, and outlined steps the school is using to address that gap.

The district report from Dr. Putnam Jackson defined chronic absenteeism as students missing 10 percent of school days for any reason and reviewed second-quarter rates by school. “Our goal is to get to 12 to 13 percent, which is also a state goal,” Dr. Putnam Jackson said.

Cooper’s interventions include co-teaching to maximize adult-to-student ratios, tiered attendance intervention plans (tier 1–3), quarterly attendance goals tied to celebration trips, a morning “caught in your seat” incentive, daily attendance dashboards and direct outreach by the campus SRO for fast follow-up at homes. Eastman said Cooper has added trauma-informed professional learning (training based on Bruce Perry’s work), an SRO who follows up on absences, and a new mixed-abilities special education program that returned eight neighborhood students to Cooper.

The district’s second-quarter rates reported by Dr. Putnam Jackson included: Cooper (18.3% as presented in Eastman’s slides), Derby Hills (10.8%), Park Hill Elementary (11.41%), Stone Creek (12.26 → 10.72), Oak Lawn (18.5 → 20.85), Tanglewood (13.3 → 7.74), Derby Middle (12.22 → 16%), Derby North (12.59 → 19.21) and Derby High School (18.5 → 21.18). The report said some spikes correlated with seasonal illness and that remaining membership days still allow some schools to meet targets if rates improve.

Board members pressed for clarity on how partial-day absences count. Dr. Putnam Jackson said elementary students missing a half day are counted as fully absent (per current local recording practice), middle school requires presence for five periods to count a full day, and high school requires presence for three periods. She also described additional attendance codes being added to refine early-arrival/early-dismissal tracking.

Eastman and district staff emphasized family engagement and targeted interventions for tier 2 and tier 3 students, including home visits and conference-time meetings with attendance care teams to troubleshoot medical, transportation or employment barriers. The report noted the district is compiling updated quarter‑three figures.

Board members said the attendance work and SRO follow-up appear to be producing measurable improvements at some schools but asked the district to continue reporting school‑by‑school trends so trustees can monitor progress.

Ending — The board did not vote on new attendance policy at this meeting; staff said they will return with updated quarter‑three figures and next steps for schools still above the target.