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Humboldt City superintendent outlines attendance push and Saturday summit to reduce chronic absenteeism
Summary
Superintendent reported on attendance concerns, an academic 'Saturday summit' to provide seat-time credit, outreach and court steps for chronic truancy, and related student support efforts and donor-funded incentives.
The superintendent delivered the report to the Humboldt City School Board detailing steps the district is taking to reduce chronic absenteeism, including a six-session Saturday summit that can provide students with seat-time credit, home visits by school staff, and, as a last resort, referral to juvenile court.
The superintendent said the Saturday summit uses two certified teachers and that students who attend multiple sessions may receive credit for one or two days depending on hours attended: “If they come and attend those 6 sessions of Saturday summit, we will be able to give them a a credit for 1 or day 1 of those days depending on how many hours they stay. They may be able to get credit for 2.” The superintendent described the district’s outreach timeline to families (contact attempts before court) and said the district conducts home visits and employs principals, the school resource officer, parent liaisons and counselors in outreach.
Board members and staff described the effect of chronic absence on testing and accountability. The superintendent said students who have missed 18 days are labeled chronically absent and that absences count against district testing metrics. The superintendent described the district’s enforcement path: contact at 5 days, again at 7 days and then the tenth day before court referral. The superintendent also said judges in juvenile court may assess fines for parents in some cases.
A board member asked whether the district could hire a psychologist; the superintendent said budget constraints make hiring difficult but the suggestion was discussed for future consideration. The superintendent also outlined other items in the report including testing dates, a donor-funded “50 for 50” incentive (a donor gave $1,000 to fund the first 20 fifties), work-based learning placements (Xavier Pope was noted as shadowing at West Tennessee Healthcare), CTE small-engine certifications for students, upcoming scholarship events and athletics schedules.
No formal board action on attendance programs was taken during the meeting; the report was informational and the board discussed follow-up questions.
