Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Attendance Atsi Plan topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board presses for breakdown of attendance data as MAMS ATSI plan is readied for possible adoption
Summary
Trustees questioned a 76.6% attendance figure cited in the MAMS ATSI plan, asked for subgroup breakdowns and heard administrators explain how the state's Future Ready Index calculates attendance metrics.
The Middletown Area School District board discussed the targeted support and improvement (ATSI) plan for MAMS and focused on attendance data that district staff cited as a challenge.
Mrs. Moore presented the MAMS Year 3 ATSI plan and identified overall attendance as a concern, noting an attendance figure of 76.6% on the Future Ready Index. A board member asked what the district meant by "infrastructure" in the plan's challenges section; staff agreed to provide a more detailed breakdown at a future meeting.
District administrators explained that the 76.6% figure comes from the Pennsylvania Future Ready Index and is essentially a lagging number that includes every type of absence (excused, unexcused and educational trips) as counted by the state. The district's PIMS coordinator and staff told trustees the state calculation is complex and can be difficult to replicate locally.
Dr. Wirtz (title not specified in the transcript) explained the state treatment of absences and chronic absenteeism: "The state looks at an absence as an absence. If you have more than six absences, you are considered chronically absent," he said. Trustees and staff discussed how the index does not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences for the chronic-absence cutoff and that the measure is intended to encourage districts to keep students in seats.
Staff told the board the data are lagged: the Future Ready Index figure presented may reflect an earlier school year. Administrators also provided context comparing pre-pandemic and current figures: the district reported a pre-COVID attendance percentage of 89.2 and has not fully recovered, while the statewide pre-COVID figure was 85.8 and the most recent state value shown in the index was 78.1. Staff said subgroup breakdowns exist in the Future Ready Index but committed to returning a more detailed analysis to the board.
Why it matters: the ATSI plan uses attendance as a key indicator of student engagement and was presented for possible movement to the board's Aug. 19 consent agenda. Trustees asked for more granular data to understand what portion of the 76.6% reflects excused educational trips, chronic absenteeism by subgroup and other contributors before voting on the plan.
Board members asked staff to provide a clearer definition of the term "infrastructure" used in the challenges section and to return with a breakdown of the attendance calculation and subgroup rates at the next meeting. The ATSI plan remained listed as a future action item for the Aug. 19 meeting rather than being adopted at this session.
