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Board hears spike in chronic absenteeism, gets early‑year academic benchmarks
Summary
At the Nov. 18 meeting the board was told October attendance was 93.428% with chronic absenteeism at 23.3%; staff linked the spike to seasonal illnesses and reported early‑year benchmark proficiency rates (K–2 ELA 14%, grades 3–8 ELA 25%, 9–12 ELA 29%). Board members pressed staff on tracking students who disenroll to homeschool or charters.
Fayette County school administrators presented October scorecards and early‑year academic benchmarks at the Nov. 18 board meeting, noting a notable rise in chronic absenteeism and continuing low proficiency rates on early assessments.
Miss Hedrick (speaker 12) reported October attendance at 93.428% and a chronic absenteeism rate of 23.3% for that month. Hedrick said October often shows higher absenteeism because of seasonal illnesses and vacations and described district efforts — including targeted attendance incentives and tiered follow‑up (20/40/60/80‑day checks) — to identify students at risk of chronic absence. "Typically... October you see a lot of absenteeism," she told the board.
District assessment data presented by another staff member (speaker 11) showed low initial proficiency: at the beginning of the year I‑Ready results were about 14% proficient for K–2 ELA and 25% for grades 3–8 ELA; Progress Learning data for grades 9–12 showed roughly 29% proficiency in ELA. Math beginning‑of‑year proficiency rates reported were 9% (K–2), 14% (grades 3–8) and 12% (grades 9–12). The presenter cautioned these were preliminary beginning‑of‑year figures.
Board members pressed staff about students who leave district enrollment for homeschool, private school, or charter programs and about the county’s ability to locate those students. Miss Hedrick described a process whereby charter schools may disenroll students after 10–15 days and notify the county; county staff then attempt to locate and document the child’s placement. Hedrick said locating students who move into nontraditional placements (homeschool or micro‑schools) can be difficult under current reporting processes.
Members asked where suspensions and in‑school‑suspension placements were concentrated; staff said some schools, including Tokyo High School (as noted in the presentation), had higher in‑school‑suspension counts and that staffing for ISS coverage was an ongoing concern.
The board asked staff to continue refining the scorecards, improve data tracking on student exits, and follow up on intervention and attendance strategies.
