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County and schools to pilot DSS-funded family support positions to address chronic absenteeism
Summary
Superintendent Chris Barnes and county staff described a three-year pilot embedding Department of Social Services employees in five schools to target chronic absenteeism and related behavioral supports, along with expansion of schoolwide behavior programs and the "2 by 10" positive-contact strategy.
Superintendent Chris Barnes described a cooperative pilot proposal with the county Department of Social Services (DSS) to place five DSS employees in New Hanover County Schools over three years. The pilot would place three employees in elementary schools, one in a middle school and one in a high school to focus on chronically absent students and related family supports.
Barnes said the positions would be county DSS employees embedded in school sites to provide dedicated support for attendance barriers that the district and DSS have struggled to resolve through ad hoc coordination. “They’re wanting to pilot a cooperative agreement between us and the Department of Social Services where we have DSS workers who are solely intent on helping with chronic absenteeism in our schools,” Barnes said. He described the plan as a three-year pilot at five schools chosen to represent different socioeconomic and school contexts so the district can gather longitudinal data.
Barnes and other speakers also described classroom- and school-level behavioral investments: district staff recommended expanding Safe and Civil Schools (referred to in the discussion as "safe and civil schools") districtwide and promoting the "2 by 10" positive-contact strategy—two minutes of positive interaction for 10 consecutive days—to strengthen adult–student relationships and reduce disruptive behavior. Barnes said the goal is to pair prevention and relationship-building with targeted DSS supports to improve attendance and classroom time on task.
County staff confirmed that some funding for the pilot would come from state DSS revenue and some from the county mental-health funds. Committee members expressed support for the plan and asked for clarification that the pilot would remain at the same set of schools for the full three years to measure outcomes; Barnes said that was his intent. The committee did not adopt a formal authorization at the meeting; staff said the proposal had been recommended in a prior county work session and would continue to move through county and district approval processes.
