Missing students’ return crucial, NLR board told

North Little Rock School District officials on Monday stressed the importance of finding missing students by the end of the semester, saying financial repercussions could reach into the millions if the district fails to get them back in school.

The School Board called a special meeting Monday afternoon to approve the budget for fiscal year 2021, but discussion about state funding was a topic throughout the meeting.

Officials revealed Sept. 17 that more than 400 students were not attending in-person classes or participating in online instruction, and that the district was working to locate those students. District spokesperson Dustin Barnes said Monday that the district didn’t have an updated number of missing students but would later in the week.

The district’s chief financial officer, Brian Brown, told board members Monday that the district’s average number of enrolled students has dropped from 8,017.32 last semester to 7,612.00 this semester.

“We have verified they aren’t enrolled in other schools, and that means they are still ours,” Brown said. “If this number materializes as our final number for the year, then that will be a significant decrease in students and a significant decrease in [state] funding for next year.”

Brown said the loss of state funding could reach approximately $1.5 million. If the students aren’t found, he said, the loss of funding would force the district to come up with a plan that could include a reduction in staff.

Interim Superintendent Keith McGee said the district’s initial deadline for locating the students is Wednesday. The Arkansas Department of Education’s first enrollment snapshot is Thursday.

“This is the reason we have been pushing the campaign and done radio interviews and ads,” McGee told board members. “We’ve got to get those 400 missing kids.”

Brown said some special programs determine funding based solely on enrollment numbers at the beginning of October.

Enrollment numbers also drive much of the state funding for districts, but Brown said the deadline for those numbers isn’t finalized until the end of the semester in December.

“Every student we add by the end of the third quarter will help our funding,” Brown said.

Kimberly Mundell, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Education, said the agency issued guidance earlier this month regarding students who were not attending in-person classes or participating in online instruction.

The guidance included extending the period for dropping students who haven’t reported to school either in person or virtually, or for whom the district has no other information to verify a reason for nonattendance. Those students can remain enrolled in the district until Sept. 30, unless the district receives verification the student should be dropped for a reason other than “no show.”

“We are working on a more in-depth attendance and engagement strategy and will share information in the future as things further develop,” Mundell said.

Under the authority of Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s executive order, school districts can keep enrolled students who do not attend school for 10 days or more. Typically, a student determined to be a “no-show” is dropped on the 10th school day.

The guidance also listed procedures that can be used for missing students, including the gathering of data, a school outreach team, data follow-up and communication with parents.

The North Little Rock School District launched a new video campaign last week to try to reach missing students.

The district created a student-led video campaign called “Mask On or Log On!” that stresses the importance of going to school and the safety measures that are in place to protect students and faculty members from the covid-19 pandemic.

The original cutoff date for attending online classes was in August. McGee said previously that he had talked with parents and missing students whose main concern was safety during the pandemic.

McGee said Monday that some students returned to class this week.

“We have had more elementary students missing than secondary, but a lot of those schools have started recruiting those students back,” he said.

Brown told board members that the school district plans to do in-house visits with missing students, and that he expects to provide an update on those numbers in November or December.

“If we can’t find them, we will have to realize we will need to make a new plan,” he said. “Nothing is determined right now, but I just want to put this on your plate and make you aware of it.”