District’s student absenteeism is focus of review board
Morgan Hill – “Must be present to win” is a requirement for some raffles or drawings, but it is the motto of Morgan Hill Unified School District’s student services department, recognizing the importance of students being in the classroom, and the battle cry of the district’s truancy abatement program.
The district has always been concerted about truancy issues, but for the last several years, the district has made a concerted effort to stem unexcused absences. Efforts have begun to pay off, with a three-year high in attendance during the 11th month of the 2005-06 school year, according to MHUSD Coordinator of Student Services Bo Davis.
The district’s focus on truancy abatement and the collaboration with the Morgan Hill Police Department over the past several years have produced results, Davis told School Board trustees on Tuesday, with not only the three-year high but also several months during the same school year that were a two-year high in attendance.
Davis said one of the steps the district is taking to reduce truancy, with the support of the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, is to hold meetings with families of students who have attendance problems.
“We cast a broad net, looking at attendance records in our computer; students from every grade level attended,” Davis said. “The District Attorney was very impressed, both with the attendance and with the interest-level of the parents. Many were taking notes, they were taking her seriously, wanting to learn more about the law and what they could do and what the consequences are in those rare cases when it goes to prosecution.”
Assistant District Attorney Lois Baer, School Resource Officer Gary Cupps, Community Solutions representatives and various district officials held a parent mediation meeting in the Britton Middle School auditorium at the end of September; 250 parents of students from a variety of schools attended, Davis said.
“Our purpose there was to reconnect with the parents to provide support for them and to have a new beginning,” he said. “We plan to do that again in a few weeks.”
Expectations for student attendance were reiterated to the families, Davis said, in Spanish and in English.
“We expect that the students are in school, unless they are sick, and if there are reasons why they can’t be there, if there are things they need help with, transportation or other issues, we need to work out a plan for them,” he said.
Students who have been suspended or expelled from regular schools in the district may attend classes at Central Continuation High or through a program provided by the Santa Clara County Office of Education.
Another strong feature of the truancy abatement program is the district’s School Attendance and Review Board. Made up of representatives from the student services department, a school psychologist, school principals, a school resource officer, juvenile probation officer, high school counselors and representatives from Community Solutions, the board meets regularly to deal with truancy issues, Davis said.
Davis also credits ConnectEd, the district’s software that allows messages to be sent home if a student is tardy or absent, with helping to improve attendance. But the district’s School Resource Officer program has had a big impact on truancy, with a personal touch.
David Ray, one of two SROs in the district said that though the period “truancy sweeps” conducted by MHPD are effective, the presence of the SROs on school campuses is perhaps a preventative.
“My office door is always open, and it’s not uncommon for students to come in with a variety of problems, whether it’s problems with a teacher, problems at work or at home,” he said. “I had a visit from a young lady with a chronic history of running away, and she was thinking about running away again. We talked for maybe 45 minutes, and she went back to class. She was ready to leave the campus.”
Ray said that part of his job is really the “resource” part of the title, and that contact with the students is very important. Sometimes, he said, with a student who is chronically truant, the problem may not be with the student.
“Sometimes it’s getting the message to the parents. They’ll say, well, junior doesn’t want to go school, so I’m not going to make him; they need to know it is their job as parents to get him to school. They need to do everything possible, make every reasonable effort to get him there.”
The problem doesn’t have to be lack of motivation or parental neglect, it can be something as simple as transportation. One student, Ray said, takes two buses from San Martin to make it to school at Live Oak every day.
“Sometimes, he shows up late, and that’s why; but he makes the effort, he does his best to be there,” he said.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202 or at md****@*************es.com
