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Superintendent details truancy and safety strategies, cites $540,000 grant to expand reentry supports
Summary
Superintendent Jake Langley reviewed Lewiston Public Schools' approach to safety, truancy and reentry, including code-of-conduct revisions, threat-assessment teams, therapeutic-crisis training and a $540,000 multiyear grant with Tree Street Youth to support reentry services and liaisons.
Superintendent Jake Langley told the school committee the district is expanding supports designed to keep students in school and to provide structured reentry after expulsions. He outlined a data-driven truancy process that flags absences at three, five, seven and ten days, triggers outreach (letters, phone calls, home visits) and coordinates with a housing navigator and community partners to address underlying needs.
"Right now, we're working through a, Gorman grant that we got with Tree Street Youth, to the tune of $540,000 that helps support that effort," Langley said, describing a multiyear award that funds liaisons who help students earn credit and access clinical services. He also described the district's use of TCIS de-escalation training, CSTAG threat-assessment teams and functional behavior assessments to assess risk and plan supports. Langley said the district has reentered about 20 students through the Rooted reentry process and reported measurable growth for most of them.
Committee members pressed for more data about reentry outcomes and asked how family engagement and language access are being handled. A staff speaker said the housing navigator has connected with more than 200 families and provided financial assistance in roughly 80% of those cases for utilities, deposits and other urgent needs. Members also asked for a deeper PowerSchool data review to understand coding changes that affected year‑to‑year behavior counts.
The committee did not take a new vote on policy or funding but directed staff to return with more detailed spreadsheets and a PowerSchool demonstration so members can evaluate outcomes and next steps.
