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Richland 2 board hears chronic-absenteeism report; district below state average but gaps remain
Summary
District staff told the Richland School District 2 board that chronic absenteeism stands below the South Carolina average but remains a concern, with highest rates in 9th and 12th grades. Staff described tiered interventions, root causes from a small AIP sample, and the role of attendance interventionists funded after ESSER.
The Richland School District 2 board on Jan. 14 heard a presentation on chronic absenteeism showing the district’s rate below the statewide average but still problematic for student learning.
Laverne Riggins, identified in the presentation as the district’s lead for attendance reporting, told the board that the state average chronic-absence rate is 21.64 percent and that Richland 2’s rate at the district’s 90th day was 18.07 percent. "Chronic absenteeism focuses on the fact that a student is missing instruction and valuable time in class regardless of the reason why," Riggins said.
Riggins told trustees that absenteeism rose during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and that the district hired five attendance interventionists in 2022–23 to support tiered attendance work at schools. "We have to provide tiered attendance interventions just like we do for behavior and academics," she said, describing a system of districtwide (Tier 1) campaigns, targeted individual plans (Tier 2), family-directed supports (Tier 3) and outside-agency involvement such as truancy court (Tier 4).
The presentation included a small sample of 45 students for whom attendance intervention plans (AIPs) were completed; in that sample 33 percent cited acute illness as the major contributing factor to absences, nearly 30 percent identified parents’ work schedules, and 24 percent cited transportation barriers such as missed buses and lack of a car.
Riggins also flagged grade-level patterns: ninth grade showed the highest chronic-absence rate in the district; 12th grade had the second-highest rate; kindergarten was in the district’s top five for chronic absence. She said those patterns have persisted for several years and that chronically absent students were less likely to meet or approach expectations on SC Ready in certain grades, with 6th and 7th grade showing particular impacts.
Superintendent Christina Moore (title shown in the meeting as Doctor Moore) reminded the board that the district committed funding to retain attendance interventionists after initial ESSER funding ended. "The board allocated resources for us to maintain our attendance interventionists," Moore said, noting the positions were originally funded through ESSER dollars and the board moved to sustain them in the operating budget.
Board members asked about data sources and follow-up actions. Board Vice Chair Nikki Porter asked where the root-cause information came from; Riggins said it was gathered from social workers and attendance administrators who conducted the attendance intervention plans. Board member Matthew Dennis asked about truancy-court numbers; Riggins said the district took four students to court in November and expected another four on Jan. 22.
Riggins introduced two current attendance interventionists, Juliana Hayes and Venesia Johnson, and said the district is hiring an additional interventionist and acknowledged grant support (identified in the presentation as the DAODIS grant) that helped sustain the positions.
The presentation recommended continued emphasis on building strong Tier 1 schoolwide attendance systems, maintaining reliable attendance-data reporting, and keeping school attendance teams and interventionists in place to support individualized plans.
Board discussion then moved to related topics including high-school incentives, home visits by social workers and the role of community partnerships in addressing out-of-school barriers to attendance. Riggins and Dr. Sean Suber, the district executive introduced earlier as overseeing pupil services, described attendance teams’ role in deciding interventions such as home visits and McKinney-Vento assessments for students experiencing homelessness.
The presentation closed with the district’s focus on continuing tiered interventions, data-informed decisions and partnerships to address non-school barriers to attendance.
The board did not take a separate formal vote on the report itself; trustees thanked the presenters and asked for follow-up information and continued reporting.
