District leaders identify attendance and ninth‑grade transitions as urgent gaps after balanced scorecard review

A district presenter summarized the West Virginia balanced scorecard for Raleigh County and told the board, "Our greatest need in Raleigh County is attendance." The presenter said October 1 enrollment on the state scorecard was 10,272 (which includes pre‑K) and that district performance on several measures shows urgent gaps tied to chronic absenteeism and ninth‑grade credit accumulation.

Miss Lacey, director of attendance (S5), told board members the first‑month attendance rate reported in the district packet was 93.546% and that local enrollment excluding pre‑K was 9,537. She cautioned that second‑month official counts are not yet final and estimated a year‑to‑date net decline of around 200 students pending verification.

The presenter flagged that the district’s 4‑year graduation cohort rate (86.06%) trails the state (92.3%) and that on‑track-to-graduate measures (credits earned by the end of 10th grade) show pockets of concern at large high schools such as Woodrow Wilson. Staff outlined responses including expanded virtual course access, credit recovery options, ninth‑grade planning handbooks distributed to families and targeted coaching to support math proficiency and postsecondary pathways.

Board members pressed for monitoring and parent communication, and staff said they would better explain how excused absences still affect school chronic‑absence metrics and the balanced scorecard colors parents see online.

The board did not take formal policy action on the scorecard itself but approved related staffing and coaching proposals later in the meeting.