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Savannah‑Chatham audit review finds gaps in attendance records, inconsistent booster‑club oversight
Summary
An internal audit presented to the Savannah‑Chatham County Board of Public Education said student attendance reporting needs improved procedures and that principals vary widely in enforcing board policy on booster clubs.
Doctor Hoskins Brown, a board member, summarized findings from the district—s audit committee on student attendance and booster clubs, saying the committee found gaps in how attendance is recorded and uneven principal oversight of booster clubs.
The audit committee reported that student attendance has declined from pre‑COVID levels and that the district—s methods for assessing attendance need improvement. "We already know that student attendance has decreased over the past several years and is below the values that we saw prior to the COVID 19, pandemic," Doctor Hoskins Brown said. The committee used judgmental samples to review records and found many sampled records were missing information the district expected to be able to recover.
"For example, in middle and high school, 64.9 percent of the teachers missed recording attendance in 5 or fewer blocks, and 37 recorded attendance for all blocks during the 2 week period where this was being observed," Doctor Hoskins Brown said. The committee recommended producing an instructional video, writing monitoring procedures for teachers— attendance recording, and identifying strategies to increase accurate recording.
On booster clubs, the audit office found principals have uneven familiarity with board policy LEC on supervising booster organizations. "Some were very, very hands on, some were kinda I don't really know exactly how they run," Doctor Hoskins Brown said, adding that booster clubs often seek autonomy and that collaboration between principals and booster clubs could preserve that autonomy while ensuring compliance with policy.
The committee—s recommendations to the board included clearer written procedures for monitoring attendance, training materials (including a video) on how staff should record attendance, and steps to increase principal support for student attendance teams. The report also recommended clarifying how board policy LEC should be applied to booster clubs to reduce the current inconsistency.
Board members discussed operational challenges that underlie the findings, including multiple booster clubs per school and the burden that places on principals. Doctor Howard Hall noted that some schools have separate boosters for band, basketball and other activities, which makes oversight more complex.
The audit committee—s presentation was informational; the meeting was informal and no board votes were taken on the audit recommendations at that time.
The audit committee—s review will inform follow‑up actions by staff to develop the training materials and monitoring procedures the committee recommended.
