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Derby schools press attendance work as Cooper Elementary details supports; district reports mixed progress
Summary
Cooper Elementary outlined co-teaching, tiered attendance supports and an SRO outreach effort while district staff reported second-quarter chronic absenteeism rates; board members asked for calculation, notification and intervention details.
Rachel Eastman, principal of Cooper Elementary, told the Derby Board of Education on March 20, 2025, that Cooper has stepped up classroom co-teaching, tiered attendance plans and family outreach to try to reduce chronic absenteeism as the school remains above its target.
"We've had successes, but we're not on target yet," Rachel Eastman said, adding that Cooper's three-year trend shows progress but that the school was at about 18.3 percent chronic absenteeism when she prepared her presentation. Eastman described several new or expanded strategies: co-teaching to maximize adults in classrooms, quarterly academic and behavior goals, tier 2 and tier 3 attendance plans, family-engagement events with bilingual communications, and direct outreach by the school's SRO to some homes.
District staff presented the second-quarter chronic absenteeism report at the same meeting. "Our goal is to get to 12 to 13 percent," Dr. Holly Putnam Johnson said, citing the district…
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