Central Consolidated Schools introduces grant-funded attendance coordinator and outlines tiered strategy to curb chronic absenteeism

Central Consolidated Schools presented a December attendance update to the board and introduced a grant-funded attendance coordinator tasked with reengaging chronically absent students.

At the meeting, district presenter Mr. Deswood said chronic absenteeism measured from Aug. 1 through Dec. 31 rose by 1 percentage point, from 32.8% to 33.5%. Tia Johnson, who started Dec. 18 as the attendance coordinator, told the board, “I'm really excited to work on reducing our absenteeism.” She said she will work directly with principals, families and community partners and report progress in coming weeks.

Why it matters: Central Consolidated said the position is fully funded by an attendance grant from the state Public Education Department (PED) that invited districts to apply; the PED set aside $6,000,000 statewide for the initiative and selected a limited number of districts to proceed. District leaders said the next grant-funded step is to hire three attendance liaisons—one per region—whom the coordinator would supervise.

What the district will do: Administrators outlined a tiered intervention model. Chronic absenteeism is counted as 18 or more days missed in a 180-day school year (about 10%). Tier 1 provides universal supports, tier 2 addresses moderate absence levels, and tier 4 is for students above the 10% threshold; the attendance coordinator intervenes at tier 4 with individualized plans, home visits and connections to school-based supports. Staff emphasized the role is intended to reengage students, not to punish families.

Staff also described practical supports already in use, including family outreach, school-based laundry and clothing assistance, coordination with homeless programs and Department of Health grants for high-need schools. The district said some schools use incentive programs—such as attendance tickets and drawings—to encourage regular attendance for students with very high absence totals.

Board members pressed the district on consistency and equity, asking how schools communicate with guardians (many of whom are grandparents) and whether schools differ in how they apply attendance policies. Administrators responded that attendance improvement plans are written at the school level using root-cause analysis and that a district committee reviews plans monthly to provide targeted support.

What’s next: The district will present monthly attendance reports to the board, continue outreach funded by the grant (including public-information advertising), and plan to hire regional attendance liaisons next year. The board asked staff to provide sample guardian notification letters and additional data on graduation and high-school progress measures at the next regular meeting.