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Bolivar R‑I reports small attendance gains, rollout of behavior supports and curriculum revision plans
Summary
District leaders reported modest average‑daily‑attendance gains across buildings, described tiered behavior supports including reset rooms, and outlined a multi‑year curriculum revision schedule for ELA and math.
Bolivar R‑I administrators told the school board that average daily attendance has inched upward across district buildings this semester and highlighted a suite of tiered behavior supports and a multi‑year curriculum revision plan.
Doctor Wall, the district curriculum lead, presented a midyear academic update that combined attendance, behavior and curriculum information. Wall said attendance gains ranged by building — the smallest increase at the high school (about 0.5 percentage points) and the largest at Bolivar Middle School (about 1.3 percentage points) — and described building‑level strategies used to encourage daily attendance.
Administrators described classroom‑level and building‑level incentives: the primary school and intermediate school are using weekly or daily classroom challenges and leaderboards; the middle school runs a Friday pizza drawing for students with perfect weekly attendance; high school incentives include gift‑certificate drawings for students who attend at least 90 percent of the quarter. Building staff also make targeted outreach calls for students with attendance between 80 and 90 percent and may escalate to principal outreach, parent meetings or home visits when initial contact does not improve attendance.
Wall reported the district tracks chronic absentee groups and said targeted calling and home‑visit strategies have raised attendance for many students in those bands. A staff example cited at the meeting showed a group of 103 high‑school students tracked daily, with 75.2 percent improving their attendance over an 18‑school‑day period and average attendance for that group rising from 85.33 percent to 86.88 percent.
On behavior, Wall said the district is emphasizing positive behavior supports, common expectations and tiered interventions. The report noted fewer repeat office referrals at the intermediate school, a shift at the middle school from fighting to repeated classroom minors, and increased documentation of cell‑phone infractions at the high school (which has raised the number of recorded referrals). Administrators said vaping incidents are down at both middle and high schools.
Tier‑3 supports include reset rooms and staff trained to create functional behavior assessments. Wall named staff who lead those rooms: Matthew Ritter (primary reset), Megan Ash (intermediate behavior interventionist) and Bridal Delmont (middle school). The district said reset rooms aim to keep students in school while providing structured opportunities to de‑escalate and rejoin class.
On curriculum, Wall outlined a revision cycle: encore area revisions are being completed at the high school; PK–5 ELA revisions are planned for summer 2025; grades 6–8 ELA (and possibly 9–12) are scheduled for summer 2026; mathematics revisions are planned for the 2026–27 cycle. The district is piloting or using resources including Ready to Advance benchmarks in pre‑K, Eureka Math, Second Step for social‑emotional learning, and Step Up maps and EdReports as vetting tools for materials.
Wall said the district will continue to monitor outcomes and adjust priorities if data indicate a need for earlier revisions in a particular subject. Board members asked follow‑up questions about professional development structure and reported staff feedback will inform final calendar and professional learning decisions.
