At the Nov. 11 meeting, student services director Felicia Pinkney presented state-released data showing improved student attendance across Natchitoches Parish schools.

Pinkney said the district recorded about 10,000 fewer missed days than the prior year and moved from a low statewide standing to a substantially higher one, telling the board, “we went from 62 to 21,” a change she framed against the state’s roughly 70 local education agencies. The superintendent and board highlighted that progress and applauded the student services team.

Key metrics: Pinkney said the district’s average daily attendance reached about 93%, and that the average number of days missed per student dropped to about 10 — surpassing the Louisiana Department of Education’s target of 12 days. She also reported a reduction in chronic absenteeism from 26.1% to 19.3% and said the district achieved a 5% decrease in truancy.

Pinkney explained LDOE’s chronic-absence definition during the presentation: a student enrolled for 100 days is considered chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of those days. She emphasized that reducing absences requires outreach and support, and credited a sustained team effort across 365 days by staff and partners for the progress.

Why it matters: Attendance is a core accountability metric for schools and drives LDOE performance evaluations; changes in the district’s attendance ranking can affect state support, reputational standing and local planning.

Pinkney and the superintendent described next steps including continued outreach to families, targeted school visits, and coordination with newly assigned staff members (Joey Miller, Jasmine Dilworth, Jennifer Ingram and Anita DuBois) to connect families with supports that address reasons students miss school.

The board gave Pinkney and her team several rounds of applause and thanked them for the work. The presentation concluded with no immediate board vote; the item was informational.