Gateway students ask Ottumwa City Council to share survey, outline solutions for chronic absenteeism

Students from the Gateway Student Project told Ottumwa City Council they are tackling chronic absenteeism and asked the city to help amplify a community survey.

"Our project is a student-driven project," said Javier, a presenter, explaining the team collected data from adults and students and analyzed local attendance numbers. The group reported they have received 41 survey responses so far and said they have a grant from the state of Iowa; when asked the size of that grant a presenter replied, "3,000,000," as recorded in the meeting.

The students explained that Iowa defines chronic absenteeism as missing more than 10% of school dates in a grading period and said their focus is getting students who can be at school to attend more regularly. Their presentation summarized survey findings and proposed solutions including transportation assistance, mentorship and relationship-building, job-related and community engagement opportunities, school programming that increases student interest, expanded mental-health services and stronger community collaboration.

They asked the council to share the survey on the city’s social platforms so the team can gather more diverse responses. Council members praised the students’ work; one councilor said, "You are leaders today, you are our leaders tomorrow." City staff said the presentation and slides will be part of the posted meeting video and that council staff will post the survey link once it is provided by the students.

The presentation was recorded on the meeting video and councilmembers encouraged residents to review the slides and take the survey when the link is posted.