Coordinators will help with truancy

Caliche High School planning student trip to New York in 2024

RE-1 Valley School District is hoping to improve its truancy and attendance issues by creating two new family community coordinator positions. The positions, which will be funded by an Expelled and At Risk Student Services (EARSS) grant, were approved by the school board at a meeting Monday.

Elizabeth Mauler, student services director, and Cindy Reyes, family community advocate, spoke about the EARRS grant, which the district was awarded beginning in the 2022-23 school year and ending the 2025-26 school year. This multiyear grant is to help assist in providing educational and support services to students at risk of suspension and expulsion and students at risk of habitual truancy as defined by unexcused absences.

RE-1 will use the grant money to fund two full-time family community coordinator positions, with benefits, one to support elementary families and the other to support secondary families. Both will be paid $24 to $30 an hour. The need for these positions is crucial as the attendance, truancy and lack of resources within the community continue to grow.

While truancy is an issue in districts across the nation, it is a significant problem in RE-1. According to Reyes, as of the end of January, 202 students have missed 10-14 days of school, 67 have missed 15-19 days, 47 have missed 20-25 or more days and there are even students who have missed as many as 30 to 40 days of school. It’s not just a middle or high school problem either; right now Campbell Elementary has higher attendance issues than other schools.

The hope is that these two new positions will help lessen those numbers.

“They really would do attendance, truancy, provide resources to families, work with students and families who may have been suspended once or multiple times. They would be that point of con

tact for the families, so instead of the families trying to figure out who do I contact for this? Who do I contact for that? These people would be their caseworkers in the district and they would meet weekly with students,” Mauler said, explaining that the goal is for them to really truly find out why students aren’t coming to school and what can be done to fix that.

A job description for the positions states that these individuals will provide weekly check-ins, educational and life skills along with wraparound case management for students and families. They will create a plan of engagement with students and their families to support attendance and academic improvements, as well as build a positive relationship with students.

Some of the community agencies these individuals will work with include the Logan County Department of Human Services, Family Resource Center, Youth Link and Judge Carl Mcguire, chief judge for the 13th Judicial District. They will attend attendance meetings and be a representative for the district on behalf of the family.

“It’s really an opportunity, a great opportunity,” Interim Superintendent Dr. Foster said, explaining that attendance issues usually fall in the lap of assistant principals, along with about 30 other things on the same day, “so this is really going to help them that we will have these folks available.”

RE-1 has been working with Judge Mcguire to come up with some solutions to try to address truancy and Dr. Foster said Mcguire is pleased with the two new positions. It was shared that Judge Mcguire has already met with the interim superintendent and Steve Shinn, board president, and was expected to meet with building principals Tuesday to discuss this issue.

“We’re working on trying to get something established and I have a lot of hope that we have a great commonsense approach to how we handle this and there will be some developments that will allow us to address all that in a positive way,” Shinn said.

The board also approved the planning and preparations for a Caliche High School student trip with EF Tours to New York in June 2024, with the expectation that when the number of attendees, chaperones and dates of travel are finalized, an official trip request will be submitted for approval. The trip will be for students who will be in grades 9-12 in 2024 and current seniors.

Meghan Eurich, academic advisor at Caliche, was approached by EF Tours about offering the trip to students and having been on a similar trip herself while in high school to Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New York, she was excited about doing it.

“It was probably one of the best, most memorable trips I’ve ever been on in my life, so when I was approached by EF Tours I was really excited and I really wanted to do this for my students at Caliche, especially for students who don’t necessarily get to travel very often, they don’t get this opportunity,” she said. “I feel like this is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them to go see another state, another city that they never would get a chance or opportunity to see.”

The total cost for the fiveday trip is $2,864 or $174 a month for 16 months. Dinner and breakfast are included, but lunch is optional to add on for $15 a day or students can pay for lunch their own way. If parents want to travel (not as chaperones) their cost would be $3,244 or $197 a month for 16 months.

In order to cover the cost of the trip, students will be participating in different fundraisers throughout the school year and summer, possibly Little Caesars pizza kits, Krispy Kreme donuts, concession stand sales, or candy bar sales.

The goal is to have 40 students participate, which would include four all-paid chaperones. A minimum of 20 students are needed to get the group discount and would allow students to be on tour with other schools. If there are 40 students, Caliche would be on its own private tour and if only 10 students sign up, there would be no group discount and the cost of the trip will go up.

During the trip, students will get to visit the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, 9/11 Memorial, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, etc., and see a Broadway show.

An informational meeting about the trip is planned for Thursday, Feb. 23, at 6 p.m. in the school library.

In other business, the board had its first reading of revisions to policy JH, regarding student absences and excuses. The policy has been changed to allow two days per day of absence for makeup work instead of one day. Dr. Foster explained two days is common practice and noted that when he spoke to principals about this they weren’t aware it had changed to one day and had no problem changing it back.

Additionally, Dr. Foster gave a report on principal selections for Sterling High School and Middle School. Applications are still being accepted through Feb. 21, as of Monday there were five applicants for the SMS position and six for SHS, though he is hopeful there will be more before the application deadline is closed.

Plus, he gave an enrollment update. As of Jan. 20, the district’s headcount was 1,934, down from 1,965 on the official Oct. 1 count day.

The board also approved the following personnel changes: resignations of Angela Pennock, Sterling Middle School sixth grade paraeducator and Glenda Douglas, Sterling High School health assistant; rehire of Heather Forster, district office payroll accountant; changes in position for Fumie Vannostrand, Ayes Elementary food service, Kimberly Lewis-bruce, Campbell Elementary special education paraeducator and Alyssa Hite-swofford, SMS administrative assistant; extra duty assignments for Crystal Hanson, SMS parking lot monitor and Cheryl Cooley, SMS parking lot monitor; and new hire Peighton Kendrick, district-wide substitute teacher.