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Humboldt superintendent outlines attendance interventions and summer-school plans tied to third-grade retention
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Epstein described a new attendance intervention plan that includes interventions before a student's fifth absence, mandatory parent meetings for students with more than 10 absences, Saturday makeup options and targeted monitoring of third-graders facing retention; the board discussed using SROs and parent liaisons for outreach.
Superintendent Dr. Epstein told the Humboldt City Board of Education the district will step up attendance interventions and run targeted summer programs after reviewing end-of-year data that showed high absence counts among some students.
Dr. Epstein described a plan to intervene earlier in the school year "before absent number 5," institute mandatory parent meetings for students who missed more than 10 days last year, and hold two parent meetings (one for Stigall and East and another for junior–senior high). The district will use an attendance team that includes the parent liaison and school resource officers (SROs) to perform community outreach; social workers will continue phone outreach and in-school supports.
The superintendent said the district had a list of students with attendance issues by grade and highlighted that a high number of seniors had 10 or more absences during May (a school officer asked whether the figure of "41 out of 63 seniors" was correct and Dr. Epstein said she would provide detailed grade-level data to the board). The district also experimented with a Saturday summit offering make-up seat time; about 30 students attended the pilot Saturday event, but Dr. Epstein said the district likely offered it too late in the year to maximize impact.
Dr. Epstein described third-grade retention and summer-school arrangements tied to state expectations: summer school will be used to help third graders who did not meet promotion criteria, with monitoring and follow-up during fourth grade. The superintendent said summer-school decisions moved quickly this year because of late state information; the district desegregated the data and notified families promptly so summer programming could begin earlier in June.
Why it matters: chronic absenteeism affects learning outcomes and state accountability measures; the board’s new attendance interventions aim to identify problems early, involve parents, and provide make-up opportunities before students fall too far behind.
Other notes from the superintendent’s report: congratulations to students entering middle-college programs and to teachers/supervisors recognized as "teacher of the year" and "supervisor of the year;" community scholarship and fundraising events raised several thousand dollars for student aid.
