Community Board 11 committee weighs $30,000 pilot to boost attendance at Bronx high school

Miss Morris, community associate at the Collegiate Institute for Math and Science, asked Community Board 11’s Education, Culture and Youth Services Committee on the evening the committee met to back a pilot attendance program for the Bronx high school she represents.

The school serves about "580 students," Miss Morris said, and reported attendance that recently dipped into the 70–80% range after typically running around 92%. Miss Morris asked the committee to consider support for a pilot with the vendor she has worked with, saying the program would run February through June, operate two days per week in-house, include home visits on other days and serve a rotating cohort of 30 students. "Their total is $29,937.50," she said of the initial pilot cost.

Committee members said the cost and the program’s timeline merit more detail before committing funds. A member asked for a clearer budget and a week-by-week breakdown so elected officials and other potential funders could see "what am I paying for?" and how personnel, outreach and incentives are budgeted. The committee urged Miss Morris to return with "two different iterations" of quotes — a short pilot and a longer partnership option — and asked that the proposal spell out home visits, incentive structures and reporting cadence.

Members discussed several potential funding approaches, including requests to the superintendent’s office, appeals to elected officials and borough discretionary funds, using the Community Education Council (CEC) or participatory budgeting and seeking small pledges from individual electeds at the full board meeting. One committee member noted that the community board itself is “fairly cash strapped” and may be limited to advocacy and letters of support rather than direct funding.

Miss Morris described the vendor as a long-term DOE contractor and said they have other programs, including a college-and-career readiness package. As evidence of effectiveness she described an early pilot in which a partner school’s attendance rose from the low 30s to about "90%" after the vendor’s work — a claim members asked to see supported with more documentation. "They were able to bring them up to 90% attendance," Miss Morris said when describing past results.

The committee agreed the attendance proposal should be framed as a pilot that could scale if successful. Members recommended Miss Morris engage the superintendent, gather more detailed quotes and materials, and bring a finalized proposal that the committee could use to draft a letter of support to the full board. Miss Morris said she would provide the requested details and check application deadlines; committee members said they could follow up with elected officials at the full board meeting at month’s end.

The meeting closed after a motion to adjourn was moved, seconded and recorded with no opposition; the chair declared the meeting adjourned at 08:16 PM.

Next steps: Miss Morris will supply detailed pilot proposals and quote scenarios; the committee will pursue letters of support and outreach to the superintendent and elected officials.