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Teacher urges stricter attendance policy after spike in classroom failures linked to chronic absences
Summary
A high school math teacher told the board that chronic absenteeism drives most student failures in her Algebra I class and urged the district to adopt clearer limits on parent‑excused absences, reallocate staff to prioritize attendance work and publish attendance‑achievement data.
A high school math teacher told the board she believes chronic absenteeism is the district’s leading academic problem and urged policy changes and staffing prioritization to address it.
Leah Karpenko, who identified herself as a math teacher at Issaquah High School, cited Washington OSPI attendance data showing declines from about 90% pre‑pandemic to roughly 75% (Issaquah High) and 78% (Liberty High) in a recent school year. Karpenko said in her semester‑1 Algebra I class 11 of 44 students failed and 10 of those 11 had chronic attendance defined as missing 15% or more of class time.
Karpenko suggested three steps: (1) adopt a stronger district attendance policy limiting the window for parent excuses (she cited Bellevue School District’s rule requiring guardians to excuse absences within two business days), (2) reallocate staffing (for example, make the proposed secondary attendance specialist a floating position to support schools with greatest need) and (3) publish clear, accessible data tying attendance to academic achievement (she asked that the OE‑12 monitoring report in May include attendance‑achievement associations).
Board response: Board members thanked Karpenko for providing classroom data and discussed whether attendance policies and resource allocation could be adjusted. No formal board action was taken during public comment; staff indicated they would consider the suggestions and that the OE‑12 monitoring timeline might incorporate the requested data.
Ending: Karpenko closed by urging the board to prioritize attendance work over other new positions such as a proposed tech/AI oversight role if district resources are constrained.
