Board hears detailed plan to reduce chronic absenteeism and expands family engagement efforts

Miss Emler, coordinator of Student Services, told the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Board of Education on March 17 that Ohio now measures chronic absenteeism by hours missed and that the district is emphasizing early intervention and family engagement to reduce absences.

"Ohio law defines chronic absence as missing 10% or more of the minimum number of hours required in the school year," Miss Emler said, explaining the shift from counting days to counting hours and noting that both excused and unexcused time contribute to the chronic‑absence metric.

She described the district’s early‑warning system and use of the Branching Minds leadership dashboard to flag students for building‑level student support teams. The district classifies supports as universal (tier 1), targeted (tier 2) and intensive (tier 3) and said the teams review data to identify barriers and match interventions.

Miss Emler gave thresholds used to define habitual truancy and escalation points: 30 consecutive hours (about five school days), 42 hours in a month (about seven school days) or 72 hours in a year (about 12 school days). She said an attendance intervention plan is used at the tier‑three level and noted that, while the law no longer requires such a plan, the district treats it as a best practice and documents a 60‑day intervention period before considering juvenile‑court referral as a last resort.

On outcomes, the presenter said the district’s chronic‑absence rate was 36% last year. She demonstrated how state report‑card thresholds work: if a district’s rate is 36.7% or higher it must show a 1.1 percentage‑point decrease to improve the indicator; if the rate is lower, the state looks for a 3% reduction. Midyear figures shown to trustees put semester one at 36% and a later checkpoint at 30.28%; Miss Emler said that if the report card were issued today the district would meet the indicator.

Family engagement was presented by Ms. Simmers, who described partnerships with community organizations to boost attendance through incentives and events. She said the Browns organization supported assemblies, an attendance pledge and provided $2,500 in principal‑level incentive funds, and that activities such as a "fathers walk" and in‑school recognition have been used to build a culture of stronger attendance.

Board members asked whether excused absences — medical appointments or illnesses — are treated differently for building incentives. Miss Emler replied that, for state reporting, excused medical absences still count toward the chronic‑absence metric but building‑level incentive programs can vary; many schools treat excused absences differently when awarding local prizes or recognitions.

The presentation emphasized problem solving at the student level: identifying root causes, coordinating MTSS (multi‑tiered system of supports) interventions that link attendance with academic and behavioral supports and continuing to refine building practices to keep families engaged. The district also said it will continue sharing weekly attendance updates with principals and using that information during student‑support huddles.

The board did not vote on policy at the March 17 meeting; presenters said policy revisions are scheduled for first reading and that further operational updates will continue as staff implement the early‑warning and intervention work.