Othello High presents data-driven push to boost attendance and graduation with new 'Husky Pack' supports

Othello High School principal Kat Atchison and her team presented the board with data and a set of school-level interventions aimed at increasing on-time graduation and daily attendance.

Kat framed the work around moving from "motion to action," saying the school must translate prior efforts into measurable results. David (school staff) described the review of last year’s data as "autopsy data" that showed where supports were missing. "So if we were to look at our students, we graduated 282," he said, and presenters used that baseline to explain why they created new daily and weekly thresholds for attendance, academics and behavior.

Presenters described monitoring thresholds that place students into green, yellow or red buckets. For attendance, green means two or fewer full-day absences in four weeks; yellow is more than two; red is more than four. Staff said any student who falls into yellow triggers parent phone calls and outreach to the student to reconnect them to school. The team also described tracking tardies (two or fewer latenesses in two weeks is acceptable) and academic-credit thresholds to identify students who need greater support.

The school introduced a Husky Pack model for freshmen: year-long core classes with the same teacher to provide continuity, short daily check-ins ("two minutes for 10 days" to build trust) and Monday intervention time for reteaching. Kat said the approach aims to stop students from becoming sophomores already behind: she cited that 63 percent of last year’s freshmen were on track to graduate as sophomores and said that was "not acceptable," motivating the Husky Pack supports.

Discipline data and interventions were discussed: cell phones accounted for many current referrals, and the school will pilot a lunch-intervention program that removes off-campus lunch privileges for students with repeated tardies or attendance problems while providing academic supports in the building.

On standards-based grading and technology, Kat reported the district-level help-ticket system in Empower has recorded 106 tickets (60 from Othello), of which 83 tickets are closed; she said about eight or nine remain unresolved due to technical issues. The district will hold a PAC session to train secondary parents on Empower and front-office staff will help with account access.

Board members and students asked questions about trimester versus semester scheduling and the school explained the trimester was adopted to increase credit and CTE opportunities and to provide a cushion for students who struggle. Directors praised the data-driven approach and said early teacher and student feedback has been positive.

What happens next: building staff will continue daily period-by-period attendance monitoring, start the behavior leadership team work, hold parent training on Empower and pilot the lunch-intervention supports as part of an early-year attendance and engagement push.