With the 2019-20 academic year underway, some local schools have received grades from the Mississippi Department of Education, while others have used different methods to measure their successes and failures.
One common denominator for every school is students must attend and be present to learn. While that burden falls on educators, students and parents also share some responsibility in getting to class every day school is in session.
Dr. Earl Joe Nelson has been on the job as the Clarksdale Municipal School District superintendent since July. He said, based on the MDE grade, the district’s absentee rate is 22 percent.
“We’re working to improve that number to get it down to the teens,” Nelson said. “Right now, we’re looking at our policies versus the state policies to assure that we’re in line so we can address those issues.”
Coahoma Early College High School principal Cloretha Jamison said the attendance was at 97 percent for the first month of school, which exceeded the goal of 95 percent.
“We did not do that last year, so we’re excited about that,” Jamison said. “Some things that we do, we offer incentives.”
Jamison said, last year students were rewarded $15 for perfect attendance every nine weeks. She noted a few times in 2018-19, the attendance rate was 94.5 percent for a month, which was a little below the goal of 95 percent.
“We would love to be at 98 percent,” Jamison said.
Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School’s attendance rate was at 96 percent for its first year in 2018-19, according to executive director Amanda Johnson.
“We feel proud about that,” Johnson said. “We definitely want it to be higher. We definitely want to set the goal and ensure that our kids are coming to school. We know that kids get sick, so we’re not expecting perfect attendance, but we do want our kids to have excellent attendance.”
Johnson said her goal is for the attendance to improve a little bit each year.
Clarksdale Charter is adding a new grade every year until kindergarteners through eighth graders are enrolled. There are currently 250 students in the school with an 86 percent retention rate from the previous year. There are 75 kindergarteners, 73 first graders, 50 second graders and 52 third graders.
Lee Academy head of school Rone Walker said she has not had any attendance problems.
“Everybody comes to school with the exception of here and there sick,” Walker said. “I don’t have the same issues the public schools have. I can say that because I worked in the public schools.”
Walker previously worked for then-Coahoma Agricultural High School before taking her current position at Lee.
Lee Academy does not have any bus routes, but that has not caused any problems, according to Walker.
“We have rules that are in place,” she said. “I guess they just don’t get violated as much. I have kids who are tardy so they have consequences for being tardy because I have a lot of children who drive themselves. There is a consequence. That is a lot of responsibility to put on a child to be at school early, especially if the parents are gone for work, but there are consequences. Unfortunately, if children are tardy due to their parents making them tardy, the child is the one to suffer.”
Each leader offered different solutions to make their respective school’s attendance rate the best possible.
“We’re actually looking at our PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Support) system, to really motivate our students,” Nelson said. “We’re working with our local truancy officer (Sheila Jenkins) to assure that we’re following the process or procedures to really help motivate get the kids to school every day and their parents.
“A percentage of responsibility is on the parent,” said Nelson. “They give us their percentage of the responsibility, we’ll take the rest of it.”
Nelson said Clarksdale has a system in place where parents are contacted about attendance issues. In some cases, there are visits to the home of parents to see what is going on.
“We have a policy in place where they can write so many notes,” Nelson said. “We’re looking at reducing that because we don’t want that to be abused. Keep in mind: If the student is in school, the student is learning; if the student is not at school, we’re losing ground.”
Jamison said CECHS dealt with illnesses last year, including strep throat. She said discipline matters and suspensions have decreased to help attendance.
She is looking to continue providing incentives for students to attend school. Some new ideas for the 2019-20 year are to send postcards to homes every nine weeks when a student has perfect attendance. The school will also provide yard signs for parents whose child has perfect attendance during a nine-week period. Parents of honor students will also receive similar yard signs.
“We just want our parents to make sure they know how much we appreciate their child is here every day,” Jamison said.
Jamison said teachers contact parents weekly.
“Sometimes they could be skipping,” she said. “If the parent doesn’t know, then it’s our fault.”
Jamison stressed the importance of parent involvement whether it is with the PTO or checking school updates on Facebook and the website.
Jamison said school resource officer Joseph Wyatt makes sure the building is secure. Jenkins is also the CECHS truancy officer and notifies parents when students are absent three to five consecutive days or the absence is unexcused.
Johnson said parent participation with getting kids to school is crucial.
“I think it’s really important,” said the Charter school administrator. “Obviously, at this particular grade level, our young kids are dependent on their families to get them to the bus stop or get them to school, so I think it’s really important to be at school, be on time for school and stay the whole day. We do quite a bit from beginning to end so it’s definitely important for kids to be at school.”
For Lee Academy, the burden is greater on a parent than it would be at a public school.
“If the parent chooses to send their child here, it’s their responsibility to transport them here,” Walker said. “I have nothing to do with the transportation.”
Students who are late must bring a note to school.
There is latitude with the punishment for students who skip class at Lee Academy.
The handbook reads,“Students on campus must be in their assigned / scheduled class unless permission has been obtained from the classroom teacher (or substitute teacher) of their assigned / scheduled class. Students found to be absent without permission (skipping) will result in the notification of parents and will be subject to disciplinary consequences to be determined by the school administration. Leaving campus without permission from school administration or office staff is dangerous for the student and the school. Parents are asked not to give your child permission to leave school unless you have a valid reason and you have notified the school office.”
