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Roswell schools outline steps to reduce chronic absenteeism, debate use of one‑time grant funds
Summary
District staff described a multi-pronged effort to reduce chronic absenteeism, reviewed a state attendance grant and urged principals to spend or reallocate unused funds; no board vote was required.
Miss Coleman, who led the district attendance committee presentation, told the Roswell Independent School District Board on March 11 that the district is using a state attendance grant to target chronic absenteeism and support school attendance teams.
The presentation outlined how schools must form attendance teams under "attendance for success" laws, how the district’s attendance liaison, Laura Macias, performs home visits and compiles weekly and monthly reports, and how schools can spend grant money on allowable incentives and work agreements to reduce absences. "When they've dotted their i's and crossed their t's and done all that they can do as a school team then they submit a referral to Laura Macias," Coleman said.
Why it matters: chronic absenteeism—students missing 10% or more of school time—affects funding and student outcomes and is a stated legislative focus this year. Coleman said the district received the attendance grant for a second year and has allocated funds to schools for incentives, extra counselor hours and work agreements to support outreach.
Board members pressed for faster use of the funds after reviewing a spreadsheet showing about 10 schools had not yet expended their allocations. "That's sad when we've got this money and it's not being used," Board President Jack Cheney said, urging reallocation where practical. A Capitan Elementary principal told the board that spending allocated money takes planning and parent engagement: "I will be encumbering our funds," the principal said, adding that family engagement and barriers such as transportation or access to basic needs can limit effectiveness of incentives.
District staff described practical barriers: late guidance from the Public Education Department on allowable purchases, delays getting the funds into school budgets, and flood-related disruptions that diverted staff time and created new acute needs—Coleman said the district identified 88 students as homeless because of recent flooding. "We received the funding again this year. We didn't know it was going to be a 2 year fund," Coleman said, noting that schools had asked whether they could hire attendance coaches but that short-term grant funding complicates hiring.
Board discussion touched on reallocating unused funds to schools prepared to spend them and on legislative pressure for attendance solutions. Coleman said the district can move funds from schools not using them to schools that will and that she had sent reminders this week. The board asked staff to press principals to encumber or reassign funds promptly and to provide attendance artifacts to the legislature.
The meeting recorded no formal motion on this item; staff will follow up with principals about spending and possible transfers and will return updates to the board.
Ending: District staff said they would continue to monitor chronic absenteeism, share artifacts with legislators and work with Engage New Mexico and other partners to identify and support seniors at risk of not graduating.
