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District highlights teacher award and steep drop in chronic absenteeism as interventions expand
Summary
School leaders celebrated a Milken/Hilton educator, cited exemplary-practice recognition, and described attendance and discipline interventions that they say reduced chronic absenteeism from application-era levels to under 1%; reading proficiency in lower grades was flagged as an area needing attention.
School staff used the board meeting to highlight awards and to describe interventions aimed at boosting attendance and reducing disciplinary exclusions.
Presenter (S2) announced that teacher Kunta Serkale was recognized with statewide honors and that Mullins Elementary was one of the county’s first schools named an exemplary-practice school for collaborative, data-driven instruction. “She was just named top 10 under 10,” S2 said of Serkale, noting her professional development work across the state.
Staff described a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) that includes tier 1 universal climate supports, an attendance-report-card system (green/yellow/red) sent with regular report cards, in-class incentives and a SWAT small-group attendance program for students who are chronically absent. S6/S3 explained the stepwise approach that moves students from universal supports to truancy-diversion meetings with families and tier 3 individualized plans.
District presenters said discipline referrals and out-of-school suspensions have fallen as the district adopted restorative practices. Presenter (S2) said the number of out-of-school referrals had dropped from roughly 40 in earlier years to about 10 this year and highlighted an attendance improvement: “Since I started when I started in 2022, we had a 32 chronic absenteeism rate. I checked it this morning. It's 0.8 percent this morning,” S2 said.
Officials also noted academic performance patterns: math proficiencies showed strong cohort growth in cited grades (examples given included third- to fourth-grade cohorts moving from the high-50s to mid-70s competence rates), while early-grade reading proficiency remained an area of concern with some third-grade scores still pending.
Board members and staff said the combination of targeted interventions, professional development and new facilities should help sustain gains; staff plans include continued monitoring and summer programs to maintain momentum.
