##VIDEO ID:Z8yjAPdWL7U## well welcome everybody to this different location it's kind of fun I think we used to meet way a long time ago this was our boardroom so um first order business is approval of today's agenda it's an action item is there a motion don't move second Motion in second all in favor I I proposed all right let's carry on the study session tonight is on student attend attendance so before we get started and and thank you for tonight and thank you for uh accommodating this this new space this is opportunity for in study session to align to a strategic plan and go deeper in attendance we know that we focus on student achievement once the students we need to get our students in our buildings and for the students are may be challenging barriers we need to work with our families and caregivers to support our students so this is what you'll hear tonight as we go deeper into attendance from our building leaders executive director Frank will kick us off good evening everyone I'm looking forward to presenting our attendance information this evening our format as you can see looks a little bit different for tonight as we want to truly dig into a study session so part of my leading up slide es will be to launch what that format will look like this evening starting again with our strategic directions as you saw on our slides last week our focuses for this evening are amplifying student learning ensuring that the they are well prepared for classroom and career transitions fostering a learning environment that prioritizes academic success mental and emotional well-being and inclusivity and then with the attendance conversation the Strategic direction of building purposeful Partnerships with families so thinking about that as you hear each of the building principles speak this evening those three strategic directions at the Forefront I want to Center us around the accountability measures that we'll be discussing this evening Minnesota has a system called the Northstar accountability system the Northstar accountability system is has five indicators upon which districts are held accountable to each of those indicators is listed there on the screen for you we have discussed at length last week the data around academic achievement and academic progress you have seen information around graduate uation rates as well tonight our Focus will be on the indicator within the Northstar system called consistent attendance by definition with the Minnesota Department of Education consistent attendance is the percentage of students attending more than 90% of the days they're enrolled in school and then the adverse of that is chronic absent ISM so that is the opposite of consistent attendance again defined by missing at least 10% of the school days and that both of those definitions consistent attendance and chronic absenteeism are directly from the MD from MD's website another piece that I want to take a moment to discuss is you see different measures of data when you are out looking at school data whether that is achievement data or attendance data graduation data there's different uh access points to that data two that you see are the Minnesota report card and the Northstar accountability files the Minnesota report card it's a publicly accessible platform it really has a high level overview of school and District performance including that consistent attendance data as you sh saw me share on the introductory screen the report card data is really userfriendly format easy to read by the general consumer um and it really provides insights by uh student groups schools and districts just to really help the public understand and attendance Trends in contrast the Northstar accountability file still looks at consistent attendance but it is aligned to Minnesota's um every student succeeds act the plan and it Dives deeper into the data and desegregates it with each of those various students subgroups and looks at attendance patterns over time when we look at the Northstar accountability files the purpose of those are much different in terms of um allowing School administrators policy makers school boards um the ability to track progress and look at uh that data in a desegregated way and then for administrators to be able to track progress and Target interventions for students so really in looking at both of those uh broadly the Minnesota report card provides that broad public facing snapshot while the Northstar accountability file is more granular it gives us a detailed analysis and those are the accountability measures of which the state of Minnesota holds us to so then I asked myself and you're probably asking yourself this question as well what is the data match um so in looking at the Minnesota report card and Northstar accountability files there's really some identified differences in some of the discrepancies you see between the report card and the accountability file there's a lot of language up here but the left side outlines three identify differences between the report card and the accountability file um in looking at each of those separately there is timing of data updates so while the Minnesota report card is updated at set interview intervals um most often when the Embargo is lifted that's when you will see the data updates on the report card the Northstar accountability file updated more frequent quently or at different times and then that will cause some temporary discrepancies between the two sources data aggregation is another difference between the two the Minnesota report card again as I shared on the previous screen more general information well the Northstar accountability file really desegregates our data by subgroups um which can result in some nuances in in our numbers but it really helps us for some of the down and in data that we want our building administrators to look at when creating individual success plans for our students another identified difference is just definitions and criteria the Minnesota report card is really again really broad if there's a word or a theme you hear very broad with the Minnesota report card Northstar accountability file there's more stringent criteria because that's what we as a district are held to for accountability purposes under our state and federal guidelines time you so then then basically we probably look as an administration at both them but we just add here and we're we're really when we report numbers we should be reporting off Northstar so if if you're always looking at Northstar there should be no discrepancy in numbers because says this number one day and it says a number another day shouldn't be any differences I mean I see under the aggregation there might be some nuances you mentioned in there but is there any reason that we misinterpret numbers when we're looking at the same data from the same Source I feel like the Northstar accountability file gives us the most accurate information from the state district and local um and then Within the local breaks us down by building and by subgroups within the building um so it definitely does give us the most detailed information to make data driven decisions uh report card the Minnesota report card just as we looked at uh MCA data last week right it's broad it it doesn't dig into that granular level that would say how am I going to help a student and and provide an intervention specific to to a student or group of students yeah so uh director clot that really uh your question really leads to this visual I put here today the difference between up and out and down and in um so with the the Northstar accountability files as as I've highlighted it provides more detailed information that allows us to report up and out to the board to the community uh while the information also allows us as uh District leaders to inform down and in so I can look at the data and determine um maybe a subgroup of students I want to support English language Learners within my building um and so we can see what our our consistent attendance rate is for English language Learners we can break that down by free and reduced population we can break it down um uh Asian Hispanic black all of those pieces are are broken down within it so it really helps Drive some of that down and in we do have one disclaimer to add before we invite our building principles um forward tonight um as you're looking through the data slides this evening you will see data marked with an asct and that indicates that right now there's no data in the Northstar accountability file so the data that you'll see is a local projection rather than the scientific correlation that has been completed at the state level like graduation rates the Northstar accountability files on consistent attendance are behind behind so you don't receive them um on the yearly up to dat as you do other data so I just I wanted to make a note of that um that there are local projections rather than that that completed scientific correlation that the state does based on the data that we send to them so when we get to those asterisks can you share with us what are some of the parameters around the projections or what you know when you say local projections what what did you use on the local level to get to those projections great question so uh locally we use our student information system which is synergy and so Synergy is the data um Danny Bryant our Mars coordinator um uploads data regularly and I might defer to Ashley to specifically answer how uh she uh uploads the information regularly and then that feeds the consistent attendance reporting with the Northstar accountability file sure so she has um multiple reports that she submits throughout the year um and then depending on what that file looks like um that's where that information then is really put into the North Star filing system and that's where you get the discrepancy of of really getting some consistent and some scientifically aligned versus the report card which just reports out without maybe all the facts sure sure how frequently does the data come in is it like weekly daily hourly real time obviously not that I'm sure yeah yep so um I can get you the exact kind of the reporting system but it is um it's more than even quarterly but I can I can definitely provide that to you and the report card is just a summary of the year so going be as accurate as the continuous upload the Northstar accountability files are also uh accessible on MD's website so you can see the full download of the files um those I can provide those in my board update on Friday the links to how to get to those okay all right so getting into Data I will start with our district Y data for albertly area schools um from there we will invite uh groups of building administrators forward to share their data we will do the uh presentation and interaction differently tonight um building principles will come forward share their data share their intervention strategies and then on the bottom right hand side you'll see a question mark once they're done presenting then we'll have an opportunity to to ask those questions with them one other piece that I would like to draw your attention to is at your table um spot today we provided an example of attendance questions that um principles and their building leadership teams may be asking as they're working through some of that down and in um these are really those questions that they should ask when reviewing their attendance data um I mentioned the the one uh number two the various subgroups um but also working through strategies or interventions which you'll hear the principles uh present tonight for example you'll hear uh principal Johnson share strategy um regarding a goal that his building has set set and how they plan to report that out to families um so those attendance questions if you're wondering well why they're there it was to provide you an example of some of those questions that our building leaders are working through when they're reviewing attendance overall Elbert Lee area schools based on the Northstar accountability report um director Schindler one of the things that you had asked for when we started this attendance conversation was a 5year span of data um and So based on um as we all know some unique uh interruptions in the data we we have provided the data uh that is available so as I stated there are uh some data sets that are not yet uh fully um completed the scientific correlation but in looking at working backwards we what are we week eight week seven of the school year we're currently at 88.1 3% consistent attendance going to the top of our chart and working down you can see that historically we have been sitting between the 80 and 85% uh consistent attendance rate the 2223 school year is is is an outlier um so it will be interesting to see as MD completes that correlation if our local projection based on our synergy uploads matches that um because it it is different uh than you see uh the historical Trend data the blue number I really just wanted to provide you how we as Elbert Le area schools compared to the state so the blue number is the state so very very close to what the state consistent attendance is reported based on the Northstar accountability f and you'll see that 2223 as a consistent outlier across so that drives you pushes us to ask more questions okay we will invite our elementary team forward to share their [Music] I'm going to take the opportunity Kim's going to hate me for this but it is Kim's birthday today I think we you're wel I knew you'd appreciate that start us out happy birthday to youy birthday to you happy birthday dear k happy birthday to you thank you everybody of course we have those we'll talk later all right okay start sure all right um it looks like we are right about 90 almost 94% so far this year um and other than that 22 23 we went down a bit it's been pretty consistent up until that point [Music] so um same similar for like you uh I will say one comment as a collective Elementary team um one thing we did was bring um alignment across all of our buildings last year and really worked to have a seamless plan developed that ensured that across every Elementary building no matter which one you're at you're getting that common experience when it came to our attendance piece and we'll talk to that plan a little bit later one piece collectively as a team two that we ensured was supporting any families that may have had that plan developed last year we had as a collective team made proactive positive phone calls to celebrate attendance as the year started while also ensuring that we just ensured any barriers that existed so we could support them in and with that this year so collectively you'll see our numbers that but those are some just simple and we'll talk more about that later but positive steps we took this year to ensure that we are aligned as a collective Team all right moving on to H you can see our um attendance rate is near that 95% currently um and then obviously as you look to the left of the screen you're going to see that it ranges from you know that 91% all the way up to 96 um so obviously there has been some strategic conversation and work that we've mobilized in the last year um to really come to a common place and we can talk about those and we talk about those strategies to increase that attendance but so far in implementing the spere and having those attendance meetings it has been um impactful for us and very systematic it's felt way more systematic than it did last year to do that um which feels good and I know that that will be reflected in the attendance percentages at the end and then at hon we're a little bit lower at almost 93% um which surprised us when I met with the team today CU we've only had 80 unexcused absences for students um that's when parents or caregivers don't call in to give us the Reason by their absence so we're excited about that that parents are calling in and letting us know why students are not coming to school and we just had a celebration of the last assembly um to celebrate that so we're very happy that caregivers are reaching out and letting us know where their students are collectively as a team just putting down we have kind of four big strategies that we've kind of honed in on um one of which is just the work that we presented to you last week um around creating that safe and welcoming environment for our students and I'm just going to give kudos to our staff just the relationships that they build with our kids and the work that they do in the classrooms kids love coming to school and that shows through what we showed you on the slides previous um and then working too to help support emotional needs for our students as we noticed that uh maybe they might be having difficulties uh maybe adjusting to a new class or different circumstances we have those supports in place using our second step curriculum um that we have in place for our students so that's some of the work that we do along um creating that space for our kids that they enjoy and then moving down into our monting early intervention so we meet weekly we have a daily report that generates that we meet weekly um and Talking Through each student individually and thing I appreciate about our meetings I would speak for all my colleagues in this they're not just numbers on a page but they're faces and kids that we serve and care about so we definitely know who they are their circumstances and what we can do and put in place to make sure that they are getting their needs met um and I know that I'll speak for Lake View like right now I think we have three students that have three unexcused absences at the moment so really working to cut that down and I think being able to may I click on this just to show just a systems piece so this is what we designed and worked through last year so consistent cohesive plan across all of our buildings that is when students hit those three unexcused this is what happens and it's that teacher engagement first and then the letter goes five on excuse we as a team meet and develop a plan with them um and then that kind of carries forward at that point pieces I just think that this has been helpful in very like rolling our teams out in a systematic way and if you are the teacher here are your roles if you are the principal School social worker or Dean here are your roles so it makes everything very clear and concise here's the script for a parent to contact or a teacher to contact a parent but then it just makes it feel very cohesive among all four element trees okay anything else on that SL keep going no then next we have family engagement so when we're reaching out to our caregivers and want to make sure that we we're concerned about their child when they're not at school so giving that phone call to say hey we missed your student today is there anything I can do to support you what can we do to help them um attend school um and then we do have our personal support for students check-in checkout system so students who um tend to be absent more often um developing more positive Rel relationships with others staff at the building so we kind of call it a 2x 10 2 minutes um per day 10 days um but it can go longer if needed that's just our beginning but just connecting with more adults talking about anything that they want to talk about whether it's the football game or the video game they played doesn't have to be bu at school but just build that positive relationship with all of our students I will say the implementation of the app this year I think we're all at that 80% are above a family engagement with that tool and that I think is allowed for another way to meet students where they're at or meet parents where they're at with communication as well just to have those nudges um and put that out there too so okay sure so um speaking of meeting students where they're at sometimes they struggle with engagement and so then we will um include the school social worker and have some sort of plan that targets some of their attendance issues that way um we also have some mentorship programs that we can reach out to um partnering students with a mentor and that will also help with consistent attendance believe the question mark of the Bott is now any questions the check in check out who so that's an intervention who is that with is it the parah is it the teacher who is that that can be mobilized by many different stat it can be mobilized by any staff member in our space um but the the 2 by10 stands for 2 minutes a day for 10 days is technically the formalities of the intervention but I just think that in in this instance it's just building that positive relationship and that structured time to connect with whoever that adult is um so that that student knows I I want you here I am excited you're here and they have that message every single day coming to them so I make the assumption that the structure is wanted by the student and it gives them some security too so security can build on absolutely we often ask them the question of like who do you feel connected with in the space and that can vary from a PE teacher to a par educator to somebody that serves in lunch and wanting to align that as well so some kids might even say it's my kindergarten teacher so they might pop down to their kindergart teachers broke for couple minutes and I see after three un abenes the Teacher Calls home not taking anything away from you people but the teacher might have a better feel of what's going on with that student then the you why like that building that relationship is essential and leading with that partnership L how do we partner together to figure out a way to support you getting to school and what might stand in the way of that so are there consequences for students who miss a certain amount or not really not we obviously our goal is to remove the barriers get them to school obviously legalities there's chy and that type of thing but we work really hard to make that not be the purpose of the contract is to help remove some of those barriers so we we do go through that at day there's compulsory attendance but no consequences okay thank you y if anything we try to do the the other way so more they come to schore incentives yeah positive yeah positive reinforcement incentives over consequences yeah okay well thank you for the process I was kind of curious on the numbers now I would imagine the process continues after 10 uh unexcused absences and what what would that I mean what what is 180 days no that's the teacher contract put students 160 we we 169 169 so after that 17th absence or something so do we have a I'm sure we have a process we get to that point um is is there any um makeup to that process if a kid gets there in the April of next year and they're at 17 days but they want to continue to come to school because we get probably paid State a off of Northstar is that correct oh okay that's why I look back at you no um absenteeism does not affect our funding unless they are out more than 15 days in a row and they get Dro from our and that's that number again funding wise is that 15 number that we cut with a school okay good and just with ours you have the three-day touch point you have a five-day touch point in which we meet face Toof face or develop a plan through a phone call then there's a 7-Day touch point where we're just checking in to say hey what might not be working what do we need to get in place so multiple times we're reaching out to that caregiver um to really make sure that that plan is developed and just making sure and checking in on the success of that plan along the way um really being proactive that way and then that also Flags potentially more County other Partnerships to support the student and the family and the caregiver does does does a doctor situation change anything yes okay the way we Cote in our um student information system is that is one of the Cs right like they're ill they there's different Cults for the ABS go [Music] ahead thank you app so director hopin and director CL both of your questions lead into the next slide very well um those County supports uh so kind of next steps you heard the um Elementary principals share about their 3-day 5 day 7day and 10day process we built the county Support slide at this point in the study session because there's a difference between Elementary and secondary compulsory attendance exists but for children 12 and under it falls under educational neglect which is a a child protection response through the county once a child is over the age of 12 it becomes a child welfare response which falls under the department of truancy so at the elementary level uh you heard our elementary principles outline all of the proactive strategies that they Implement and their attempts at Partnerships with families to remove barriers to allow their child to consistently attend it's really important to really evaluate those contributing factors um at that 10day absence though uh the school can choose can file an ed neglect report um to the county to request additional services [Music] age 12 is different that puts us into treny which puts Southwest in a unique position um because they have children over 12 and children under 12 so once we get to the treny stage we do have a partnership with the freeorn county um probation and treny uh office the goal of that program is to improve School attendance and address trcy concerns in a positive and effective manner what you see on the left is the letter that actually went out to our families um in September if they hit that threshold of um absences to be invited to an informational session at the freeor County Courthouse this letter was sent by treny officers we do have true treny officers that serve the high school the alc our Online Academy and Southwest currently those two treny officers are serving 60 students one of the um amazing benefits of our treny program is that our Tru andc officers are present in our buildings um they office out of our buildings they meet with students regularly um and you'll hear both uh principal Johnson and principal dble uh speak to the Partnerships with our treny officers and um the relationships they build with our students to promote positive attendance um on another note we just wanted to provide you the information um on what that cost is the partnership with Freeborn County for treny um I did have executive director Dr Walsh pull that up for us just to provide you with the data on what that cost is for us to to partner with them but it it really is a great partnership for our students um and our building leaders to have a resource to lean into we'll invite principal Johnson forward hello everyone so uh here is um the consistent attendance rate for Southwest all right and then uh I kind of put it into kind of proactive strategies that we do had some us um active and then just kind of some goals as well so some proactive strategies that we do um at the start of the Year during our open house um I usually do uh four different times of uh back to school presentation part of that is um the attendance piece as well so talk about the importance of attendance with the families that choose to be at the meeting during the open house uh we also have a Southwest YouTube page uh it's got a variety of videos on there um one of the videos is kind of Southwest Basics um and in that video um we talk about attendance um and the importance of attendance uh and some data on that as well uh our DEA students who primarily looks over our students attendant at Southwest uh meets with the attendance Clerk or the student service secretary now uh and then also uh Jenny Hendrickson who is the try officer that we work with at Southwest uh so may meet Wednesdays uh and go over student attendance data uh and and um kind of figure out you know where we're at with our students uh new this year uh with our treny officers um bringing incentives into the game as well so uh once a week we have a video announcement series uh called the tiger talk um and in there um starting this year we've included attendance prizes and so there's different attendance criteria each week Jackie car Olson ARA students puts this together um and so what is this part takes one uh that that week the criteria was 95% present at school or more Miss less than two class periods this past week so anybody that fit that criteria essentially went into their names went into ahead and then two names come out and then uh those students pick on a prize uh order by the student service um secretary's desk and so each week it's a different weekly criteria and then um who's ever in that criteria uh two names get pulled um during that as well we also do team competitions throughout the year and so uh every week we update the the leader boards uh as well and so one of those is the number of tardies uh in school so again not necessarily the attendance piece but getting the class on time as well so um teams that have the least amount of tardies per student get the most points for their team um and each quarter it's a new competition in as well uh so some reactive things I we do uh so the automated phone calls go out at 10:00 a.m. every morning for any student that is marked unexcused uh and then um for our treny letters uh like director Frank said we're kind of in a unique situation where you know a six graders most of them start out at 11 years old um what we've been told is that if they turn 12 during the school year then truy will apply to them um this is from Jenny Hendrickson at the try office uh pror County and so what we look at uh is that 3day and seven days so when students get to 3 days with an unexcused absence whether it's one period or full day it counts as a day according to the state of Minnesota um so if you just miss first period on excuse that counts as a day in the State Eye um so when they get the three days there's a continuing Trent letter that gets nailed home um 7 days with an unexcused they're considered to be habitually true so another letter goes home as well um the N day that is something new this year and so um that's um when a family or a student gets them 9 days per semester whether they're um excused or unexcused we send a letter home um basically basally just saying that your student has reached 9 days of absences this semester any absences after here would have to fit under one of the excused absences that's in our handbook so um what we're really trying to avoid is the the continual parent calling in saying hey my student's sick and my student and it might be but can we just get some kind of verification so that way we're not missing L of school uh and so after the student receives a 3-day letter um the de meets with that student to kind of go over the treny process what that looks like uh and then um also the big part of this too is any roadblocks a student might be facing is it a transportation issue um is it I don't know any kind of issues that they might be facing um to kind of help them with that as well because like we tell families and students it's not that we ever want to see them in courts getting wrapped up in all this too but there is an important piece of being the school um and learning as well and um you know when I was at the high school too this is a a big thing as well and you know I've seen families that you know they go to Ury Court the judge usually will tell them something along the lines of all right you need to make sure you're going to the class on time they go back after about a month they look back at it and then if the students got figured out then they they're good but if if they're still struggling that's usually like when the Jud issu ankle monitor things like that and then they come back and in about another month they check in and at that point time like I told students I've seen this happen where the judge says all right now you will need to be placed because you're missing school and then the student leaves um from court to get placed as well and so um you know I always tell students it's a very it's a spectrum right we're right here right but I just want to make sure you understand like here is a Continuum of treny too so that way they understand that um it is important to be at school I guess that's it the one thing that we're doing this year too with our newsletters um is that we are giving consistent uh attendance updates for our families as well anyone know how many of our students are consistently attending school and then also um the students that will be considered chronically absent then as well so each month we get that kind of update as well because again um the attendance spe I I very strongly about that it has to be everybody and not just the school not just the family um everybody has to do their part any questions right are you seeing strong interaction on your app as well that the elementaries have it's strong interaction on the what like they reported that the a lot of their families like 80% of their families are using the app or yeah not we're not quite that High um Jeff probably or did I state that wrong I don't know no that's right yeah yeah um I would probably say with a thrill share after you're saying probably 60 to 70% I don't know the exact number but but they we're it's catching up yeah yeah and then um not to get too diverted but this month we we also have a couple different opportunities for parents and families to come in to um learn more about that and then also Synergy parent view um just in case because the open house it's like lot of information goes in so now have a month into school hey if you got questions come on in we can help you back to with that opportunity that uh principal Johnson is talking about we he really has uh keeping um removing barriers at the Forefront so providing three separate sessions for families a a session in Spanish a session in Karen and then um uh an English session but both Spanish and current success coaches will be present so really that just idea of removing barriers and and making sure that all families have access to the information and the supports necessary so so West has done a nice job of setting those up for this and I think you'll hear a threaded through all the it's it's really supporting that way the invisible become visible and I think that is important I know I walk in principal Johnson's office a week after says so let's talk what do you who have you identified what are you and he was able to name and talk what they're doing so it's it's there on top of of the students it's not just a data it's looking at each individual student thank you got all right good evening so the alc has probably amongst the most challenging attendance numbers uh we're going to see tonight and uh that is pretty apparent when we look at the numbers I'm very curious to see how the outliers uh come through when the actual data comes together when we look at the uh three years uh the first three years the 17 18 and then 21 numbers uh we see that those are all roughly in that low to mid 20s range uh so curious to see how the um those projections play out with the actual data uh versus the projection so um but needless to say we've got some uh you know significant opportunity for us as it relates to our students in the are learning center most of us are used to go left to right I'm going to go right to left as we consider uh kind of the conversation looking at where we're at 21% of our students are considered um pass their grad year uh graduation year which in this case does not uh place them in that compulsory attendance scenario uh by State Statute and so um a lot of times uh in many cases uh a student might have maybe two or three credits uh to finish before they're we're really done so as an example we have graduated two of those students uh in the last two weeks so very excited about that also when we think about the conversations around attendance and what is taking place throughout the country as it relates to the chronic absenteeism conversation we think about attendance being correlated to uh credit attainment and that's that's no secret and that's uh something that I think we all recognize and understand pretty clearly that's why we're here having this conversation most of our students if not all of our students at the area Learning Center are behind credit attainment as far as their journey and there's a lot of reasons that that uh has led to that scenario but a lot of our students come to the area Learning Center with some very challenging attendance patterns and so uh there is some uh some challenges and opportunities at the same time as far as kind of working to overcome and rework some of those uh patterns behaviors perceptions understandings and so forth so moving on to the left side taking a look at what are some things that we're doing right now to address some of these challenges one of them we're working on right now and the academy day that we had just the last week was a phenomenal experience for our staff to go ahead and uh really dig into this uh concept and the conversation around uh our students bringing them here to school or getting them to school and so we're looking at what's called a kind of a success Mentor program where our students are going to be placed in placed but they're going to be cohorted with each of the uh teachers being the Lead Teacher so if you think of the high school you might think of the the term advisory okay we're going to create something similar to that but it's not going to be a daily uh uh scenario rather it's going to be more of an intentional cohort where uh there's opportunity for uh reflective conversations to take place as far as like how is my journey going right now where am I as a student what are some needs and supports that maybe I have identified that uh might be beneficial going forward where are some areas that we've been working on that we've seen some success the teacher one of the unique thing not unique one of the nice things about our staff at the alc is they have a really good rapport with our students our students come to school and there's already that inherent trust Factor that's built in that a lot of uh schools don't necessarily have that uh luxury and so we're very thankful uh you know I noticed it immediately uh with this fall with my you know introduction to um you know back into the alc your secondary environment it's so very thankful for that so we're looking at to how do we capitalize on some of that uh you know Capital that's been built up with these students and these teachers as far as those relationships so looking to break them up into cohorts assigned to a specific teacher who will then kind of be that leader shall we say that mentor and then break it down further with uh constructive conversations around what are some goals we have what are some needs you have as a student how what are some things we might have resources that we can pair and match you up with what are you seeing that's working for you as a student and how are we within our system here at our school or within the school how are we then meeting some of those needs and possibly where are we falling short and so we have a better chance to um have that um kind of that young adult conversation to say you know what uh where things at here's what we're trying to do we know why we're here where are things for you and where's our path forward so short-term longterm more immediate goal setting things like that um in addition we've been reaching out to uh parents and caregivers uh letting them know we know we haven't seen them for a couple days or in some cases the student might uh be here with us for the first half of the day and then maybe they might leave at lunchtime and we'll just let let the parent know and have those conversations um and you know this varies and with each student and each each uh family and caregiver from from from call to call um some of our uh you know students families are uh in a situation where they are also kind of worn of uh just the the some of the struggles and the journey they they've been in and so some of those conversations that takes a little while to kind of build that trust a little bit so we been working on kind of building up that partnership conversation uh we are exploring some various schoolwide attendance incentives uh we've got the rock wall uh literally in our in our house should we say uh looking at some opportunities there as an example looking for other experiential uh field trip scenarios and other things that kind of build up that Rapport as well as provide kind of a a look see and say look at where we've come you know one indication or one aspect that we have currently is just simply a a measurement of how many credits have been attained and so um as of Friday we had 52 credits that have been achieved within our uh schools we very excited about that uh but keep building upon those successes and looking at how do we tie in some of the attendance numbers to some of those incentives and go go forward from there um a good conversation that uh Mr Gaston and myself and Dean Nelson had last week was looking at a variety of things uh Career and Technical education related one of them looking specific to the alc is possibly how do we create a scenario where we can provide a tangible of our students to be looking forward so often uh as a as a as a Teenage student um you know that that what's in front of me is is is very easy to see and sometimes being challenged to look Beyond a little bit can be uh somewhat uh maybe challenging at times and so we're trying to provide some structure around that Fe a career exploration and a college exploration class that's going to involve a weekly trip I'm sorry a month monthly visit excuse me monthly visit to I got you didn't sign up for that did you so as an example U as we know all of our graduates get 60 credits 60 credits uh through the preborn county pral scholarship and that's our privilege being College as we know and looking it you know let's educate our students to what is available within uh you know a very close proximity once they graduate from high school here Mak you know here learning school and and take a look at what are some options and so uh Dean Nelson has been very gracious and saying you know what we can have uh let's let's pick a program and they would prepare our students an opportunity to uh receive a tour have possibly have some Q&A with students Q&A with staff and things like that and being a little bit more proactive to get out there and and they've done this in the past but tying it into a course that uh we can uh provide some accountability with our students and and build uh kind of build that cohesion throughout the school year um in addition we'll be uh looking at uh October as an example October 29th we have a a field trip coming out to what's called construct tomorrow it's an event that's held all throughout the state I want to say there's five or six locations this year uh they generally are in a larger area like the duth Minneapolis M Rochester scenario I know uh right now u high school has about 32 students signed up for it uh we're looking to get maybe close to 50 or 60 students Al together but it's a chance to see what's out there uh if I were to let's say finish my high school career and jump right into the trades working with uh uh one of the Union apprenticeship programs look at the U compensation uh different benefit packages and see how can I take something that I'm interested in and tangibly move to that next level um so again helping them to see possibly what's my why for being here today to encourage me to come back tomorrow and so looking at some of those scenarios um another unique uh scenario within the are learning center is the the uh uity cours workk and um kind of that uh individual Pace kind of opportunity kind of that one-onone but at the same time um our students would also like to see some opportunities for some small group uh engagement and things like that so looking at how can we incorporate some coursework that does involve some uh small group uh conversation collaboration reflection on the material uh so looking at building that into the programming that we have right now so um that's a lot of speaking uh what questions what questions can I answer or address or Curiosities is there any correlation amongst other Learning Centers through the state like we can I mean yeah it's a great question yeah it's a great question you know that's something that uh would probably require a little bit more of a deep drive to take a look at what that looks like um you know I know that uh I've no doubt that there are are area Learning Centers that have stronger numbers um it's just a matter of understanding what led to that scenario and what are what can we do to maybe bridge that Gap and and be one of those area Learning Centers that others might look to and call us on the phone probably not probably not unique though are we I mean it I would almost think that it's pretty consistent across the board other than some outliers yeah you know it's um you know um we we work with uh our students and meet them where they're at and uh they come to us from a variety of different circumstances and um you know each of us are in a different Journey different battle um you know we've had families that are uh in various levels of Crisis I know when I was a teenage student uh I lost my mother cancer um and we had a very uh supportive system you know in my case uh you know we didn't have you know we we we was a big issue a big challenge but one of the things that I didn't worry about as a teenager was whether or not I was going to be forced out of my home whether or not I was going to have an opportunity to eat three meals or what have you and and not all of our students can share that message or share that confidence and so there's a lot of challenges unique areas that we look at and so we look at wraparound supports what are we doing uh with our students that maybe have school avoidance how do we connect that student that may have that school avoidance with a school social worker how do we uh build on the relationship that staff have with that student from the last year or two to then address kind of the the journey that they're on right now and so we're looking at uh bringing those wrap arounds in go ahead U to what extent do uh alternative school students take advant activities music yeah thank you you know I don't have the exact number on that but uh you know I know for example right now we've got one student that uh I know was on the varsity Bo and uh very grateful of the the uh activity bus we pick up the student here uh for let's say they're heading out for a game maybe it's a m or rochest or wherever ever it is that you know the bus will stop here pick that student up and you know that's that student athlete and be on the road um I I will say that our numbers of participation does not fall it's significantly short of the level of the um of of the student at the Elber high school but to what extent I don't have that exact number we can get that I would assume probably it's inherent in the nature of the C tell your G what that they probably would not be inclined to participate well I I don't I don't really know I haven't spent a lot of time on that but I think some of the language that has existed and does exist as it relates to uh student being on track to graduate being eligible within the State High School leag guidelines and some of those things that maybe we as a district that also look forward to you know it creates some scenarios where the students have had to you know put their focus in other areas thank you J all right thank you for your time team um element I believe 25 says physical movement is important anything after 40 minutes so if you want to stand up with me and take a stretch you're are able to do so it's definitely builds energy and makes you want to come to things more often if you follow these types strategy so it's it's up to you to keep it you know somewhere under 40 minutes well I have not been given a chance for Success then which will make me not want to come um not remove the barriers yeah you want ahead and Flip It Forward there there we go so as you may know these numbers are numbers they're round and dots and stars but I brought my friend who I retired to the nerdery for the last week that's what that's what we call the scheduling room in our data room and he's going to share some number beyond the numbers because I think although that the numbers are here and we know that that's fairly close I mean the I don't know the state average uh I know overall that I did not look it up before we for high schools um but 82.3% this year is good but I did have Sean take a closer look at our 23 24 numbers would you want to share some that with this group so what we wanted to do was give you guys some context of what it looks like really at that hourly level cuz that's where we we really need to intervene and look at where Trends are developing and so we looked at that 10% rate like director Frank had brought up as the sort of standard and we looked at missed hours that comes out across the school year at 139 missed hours we have 143 students last year who hit that total um but we looked at just unexcused and the reason why again yesc we we've had a few mentions of that but one of the things that gets funny about our data is some of our best kids miss a lot of school why three Sports band Orchestra doing activities uh six of our top 20 kids last year missed almost 20% of their classes which is pretty remarkable think that but again they're busy they're active they're getting their education through those other experiences so we narrowed it down to those unexcused areas and what you end up seen from that group is pretty ride wange we have a kid who missed 8831 hours kid who missed 139 right there at that edge the other thing we noticed from that group and what makes our attendance a unique issue at the high school and a little bit with principal Johnson is we still have that lack of it word old school treny we still have kids who don't come to school they're at home they're around town but what we see more and more now is the in school truid so we are the source of two meals for them we are a safe place we are warm they're friend are there there's an adult somewhere in the building they probably connect with but they don't want to go to class and so they're in our Halls which presents a unique challenge because it's not just attendance then it becomes a behavior discipline work as well and so that becomes very clear when you start to break down the data from this group who's out more than 10% they make up 55% of our discipline referrals and a large amount of that is we have some very charismatic young men and women have a strong gravity ational poll they get out into a hallway one becomes two two becomes four and pretty quickly a teacher notices a group of six sitting outside their room talking so that's one of those other challenges we work with in our building one of the things that is very impressive and I think this goes a lot to our credit recovery and our intervention is academics are being impacted right now our kids are capturing 77% of their credits if they've fallen into that attendance group but that number is actually significantly higher than when director Frank and I talked in the spring because of credit recovery so every senior who fell in that group last year graduated they made their way back they weren't there initially they spent extra time in our building they worked extra time with Jen henel and Jackie RoR and those other teachers to get there uh the more concerning thing is when you start to look at our younger grades you're down in that 50% 51.2% of our freshman that's the number of credits they captured if they miss class so you're talking about them only half their classes 8th grade is even worse so we don't track credits but just a quick snapshot of the 26 kids in 8th grade over 20 of them failed every class so they're not going to class and they're not getting those skills and our concern is obviously that plays out as we move into 9th grade and Beyond so that's the the basic numbers we wanted to pass along is we are not unique in the fact of secondaries got it at the middle school as well but it's more than just that 77.8 or 82.3 we have quite a few mix of of issues as we work to attendance so in order to combat that quick again um it was mentioned before about activities we have a very expansive and potentially free activities program for students and we found that one of the best ways to hook our students is to get them involved in something and so as Dave presented about a month ago I think getting that getting those students involved in an activity is a huge way to get them to come to school um I I can tell you I can name individual students right now who have only come to classes because if they miss a class they don't practice or play in the game if you have one unexcused hour during the day you're not allowed to participate that is driven up some of those in school treny numbers um The Advisory program that uh Jeff mentioned the flex we call it Flex this is in year number three starting to build that adult connection I know a survey when yesterday asking the students who is our you know who is your adult in the building and they can tell you they can have they have an answer um eighth graders not so much yet because they haven't had a chance to build that relationship uh the other thing we've done twice now in the last two years is change our schedule which means we've had to change those Flex teachers our goal when we have Flex is to keep the same adult from the day you enter that building and that adult reads your name when you walk across that stage 5 years later under the current model and so why by establishing our schedule and finding out that foures doesn't work got to thank Jeff on that one he warn us um now we are able to keep those advisories the same over the whole five years and will build that adult Connection in the building that we know uh helps a lot we added the reach program last year about halfway through I know those students I think believe you had reach date at the end of last year that said those students that got involved in that program as an elective their attendance and grades Skyrim rective making that connection to the school having a reason to come is what reach does um Dr Frank's already mentioned our freeor County treny program Jenny and Jenny are amazing um to have someone who can pull a kid in and say you know your next step is in front of a judge and believe it or not don't let them know but pretty quick here when we run attendance reports we've got a bus lined up and they're not going to have a tcy meeting with their parents on Tuesday night they're going to have it at 2:00 in the afternoon in front of a judge at the courthouse uh we're going to have a little impromptu field trip this has been in the plans for a couple years we finally found the right judge to do it and the right uh officers to get it done and then all the calls letters and meetings that Tyler talked about we do those as well um there's three of us plus plus saw working with now 1,188 students um that's a lot of kids to keep track of um but we do it and we make sure that they are are having attendance and as as Sean said the number of 139 or more last year was what 143 kids 143 kids and so when you look at percentages we're doing all right but we know we have to catch those 143 and so all of these strategies um are what we're we're doing to help it out and um I think Johanna sit here you know see not probably going to say anything but it's it's great to have someone who was working with students okay awesome she's going to talk U but to have someone who was ALC and knows the direction that some of these kids are going it's great to have on the team so give us well I was going to say as students get older I mean we know that there's a huge maturity factor that happens between 8th grade and 10th grade and and that what you see with students as they get older is they start to learn that their decisions are up to them when they're in elementary they rely on their their parents and the family Dynamics sometimes and and all the things are working because of those supports but um a lot of students that are younger tend to make some poor decisions for a few years and then you start to see those start to change because they realize their decisions are up to them it's not whether or not their parents are telling them to go to school they know that they're coming to school and having Credit Recovery built into the school day as well as after school they start to realize that those that they are the ones that are responsible for that success and we start to see that change and and the final point I think I'm going to build off with Jeff a little bit when he went we have quite a few students who we know we get the phone calls in the morning we're taking care of younger siblings and that's just something that the families in our community don't have access to that child care so sometimes that falls on the high school age student to take care of and so that's another way we have to find out how to take how how can we get how can we meet them where they are to make sure that they're getting their education as well as supplying the needs to have for their you forgot one mention that bottom one those last two those programs rely heavily on our ability to connect with our get to work one of the things that's a challenge for us is by the time a student gets to us in truancy what we see often from parents is one of two things they've been on treny for a while or what they tell us is I don't know what to do they've reached a point of it's It's ultimate frustration and one of the things that our social workers launched is they're working on basically referencing through the students who have worked in our treny program have ATT tendency issues maybe some behavior issues they're putting together a list of ideas to connect those families to resources outside of our school because what they know is that those parents are saying we can't do it right now without some help but we don't know if all of our families know the options out there so Sheena posin has been working hard on that with Britney Roberts of connecting up with families and saying do you know your kid qualifies for this do you know your family qualifies for this because we know ultimately in the end we're going to need them to be able to get through we ask your question mark you right Budd got so roughly 10% of the kids are that causing most most of the truy problems we got 14 188 143 kids so so if you could really handle those 10% in a special way like uh Sean said too we could to find out some way to get over that barrier as Tyler and some of them talked to that might really make a difference not saying you're not just saying that wow 90% of them are really doing a pretty good job y so correct CH what's the role of the counseling staff when it comes to show a student showing some attendance issues I would say not is not not as big I mean they they're really focused on getting the student um set up for classes and then what to do after after classes get after they having plan post high school I'd say most of the attendance is um is is this team and saw saw does a lot of attendance work with Jenny um the counselors are there if we need to reach out okay but I wouldn't say they're not tracking attendance that we are so could be a source of referral yes okay yeah saw is your success coach saw is a Ard Dean oh okay sorry he's he's had a lot of roles he's been a teacher went a success coach and then this year when we went we changed our format a little bit he became a dean and he is fabulous I mean just to have um you know the language the language barrier that that that he gets us I mean he's a leader in in the kin Community he's a um if you I don't know if you've ever been invited or gone had a chance to go to the K to a kin Church downtown it is incredible and um saw does great work within our school I know he's a community service officer with the police department and he's a he's a pastor at their church he is invalu invaluable to have on our staff um almost always the first person to have any issue that happens and just a great person to have on our staff great barring like some of the people in this probably my best hire ever Chris's not L [Music] try I do also want to connect and the uh board need to know a board update there is a national survey and just the amount of students that then declared out the boredom so that engagement is important and I think if you think about that 60301 that 10% engaging and reaching out and again making the students visible and having that connection uh and the flex is allowed for that to happen to have that that trust we've talked about the student uh superintendent leadership cabinet is who do you trust trust in Alber Leia High School what does that connection look like and there just some deep conversations yeah and even with engagement that's one of the at design area number seven actually in our Marzano strategies um like when I said get up and you know get up take a stretch that helps keep students in class I mean I don't know if any of you would like to come and sit through seven or eight class periods and see what it's like now um it's something else there's a lot of information going toward these kids so we've made an effort as we work through our love to HRS journey of making sure our kids are engaged and ready to learn throughout the day not just first hour so a lot of strategies out there that we're working on well I think we heard from the student U board members last week that they lot positive things happening so thank you for that thank you we really want to thank all of our building administrators for taking the time to share their data and share the strategies that they are implementing within their spaces or are are looking to implement in their space so we certainly appreciate uh their time and energies this evening um as we wrap up with our study session this evening I just wanted to Circle back to our core values and tonight I highlighted four of the core values that tonight's study session really focused on and that was embracing continuous growth and adaptability with always learning that idea of Excellence um having a culture of high standards and utilizing our resources you can tell in the space tonight collaboration is at the Forefront of the work that we do at all levels District level building level um down and in up and out you can tell collaboration is there and then compassion you heard uh a lot of leaders speak tonight about inclusive environments and creating a safe and supportive culture where each student belongs and giving them an opportunity to have that each and every day thank you so much everybody for your presentations and and answering the call of our of a concern or concerns um just and unpacking that for us and making it um so we can can really see where it's at so appreciate that so any last comments from anyone yeah this is an ongoing work and it's work that we'll continue to do daily as we the data Pro pushes us to ask more questions and we'll continue to do that at the building levels and then have an update back to the board where are we in our progress as we think report out to our strategic plan our metrics these are the study sessions the information will come to you and then we'll continually monitor the progress so if our strategies aren't having any impact how we going to Pivot to ensure we are having a positive impact it sounds like real lot of winds there so there's nothing else I'll ask Forney second all in favor