Ingram South principal reports 33% chronic absenteeism, low test scores and rising mental-health needs

Tracy Marks, principal of Ingram South Elementary, told the Lawrence County School System board on Jan. 23 that Ingram South is currently classified as an underperforming school and has a D school letter grade on statewide measures.

Marks said Ingram South’s most immediate problems are low reading scores and attendance: "Right now we do, we're currently classified as an underperforming school. We have significant room for growth in our test scores and just overall student achievement," she said. Of 357 students counted for summative assessment, 285 are economically disadvantaged; 119 of those 357 students were counted as chronically absent (about 33 percent). Marks noted a large medically fragile population and said absences for legitimate medical reasons still affect the school’s accountability data.

Marks described classroom- and school-level responses: a focus on oral-reading fluency (branded locally as Reading Raptors), sight-word practice sent home for parental signatures or checked in school, targeted tutoring and interventions, before- and after-school programs with STEM elements, and a new drone team. She said the school has set a goal that students read at the 50th percentile on the AIMSweb universal screener, above the state’s 40th-percentile benchmark.

On mental health, Marks said staff are seeing more severe emotional dysregulation than in her prior 29 years in education: "It is heartbreaking to watch a child throw things … they're in pain, they're suffering," she said, and she urged more counseling supports. She identified the school’s social worker and a part-time mental-health counselor as resources but added the counselor is about to go on maternity leave, which will reduce in-house capacity.

Board members asked for detail and follow-up. When asked where 26 new students came from, Marks said they had arrived from multiple places: "They are from Wisconsin. They are from they're from everywhere." A board member asked how many counselors the school employs; Marks replied, "I have 1 counselor." Marks described the counselor’s duties as monthly whole-school lessons (Capturing Kids’ Hearts Counselor Corner) plus work with dysregulated students and attendance follow-up.

On discipline and supports, Marks said 62 students have received office referrals this year (totaling 167 referrals because of repeat incidents). She described a range of behavioral responses, threat-risk assessments performed and use of IEP team meetings to add behavior goals for students with disabilities. The school currently has 15 students on behavior or safety plans.

Marks also outlined staffing and enrollment trends: since Christmas she said the school gained 26 students; she listed current counts by grade, said the school has 45 certified staff and 22 classified staff, and reported a rise in students with IEPs/ILPs/504 plans (about 36 percent of the building population at the date of the report).

Nut graf: Marks framed the combination of high absenteeism, large economically disadvantaged and medically fragile populations, rising mental-health needs and persistent low reading proficiency as the drivers of the school's underperforming status and explained the immediate instructional and staffing responses being used to address those problems.

Board members and Marks discussed specific next steps. Board members encouraged exploring grant funding and community volunteers (mentors, high-school teacher-prep students) to expand out-of-class adult reading support. A board member requested that Marks overlay year-to-year chronic-absence graphs in next year’s report so the board can compare what interventions produced measurable improvement.

Ending: Marks asked the board for continued attention to mental-health staffing and facility projects the school needs (bathroom renovations were noted as pending work). She closed by underscoring the role of adults in the building: "I reject the notion that my children can't learn. I don't believe that we have to find the right way for them to learn," she said, and she asked the board to consider supports that will help teachers and counselors meet students’ needs.