Bucyrus City Schools hires Chronic Absenteeism Coordinator - what do they do?

Bucyrus City Schools hired Jessica Cooper as High School Chronic Absenteeism Coordinator. The position was initiated as part of the “Future Forward Ohio” initiative to help students recover from the learning loss of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bucyrus City Schools Director of Curriculum Jonathan Muro said the State of Ohio decided to expand its 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant program this year; Bucyrus City Schools have been grant recipients from this program for about the last decade.

The new addition to the program constitutes a separate sum of money of about $23,000 that can be allocated for districts to use to improve the chronic absenteeism rate.

“The chronic absenteeism rate still has not gotten back to where it needs to be,” said Muro.

Aims and goals

Bucyrus High School Assistant Principal Timothy Souder said the goal for the school district is to have fewer than 10% of the students missing more than 10% of the school year.

Cooper, who was employed in adult education before, seems to be a fitting candidate to tackle this task.

She said she saw the position posted on the Bucyrus City Schools website in the beginning of November and thought it was interesting to tackle the effects of and the barriers put forth by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her aims and goals in the new position, Cooper said, will align with the State of Ohio Absentee Task Force recommendations on creating a starting point to assist with cutting down on chronic absenteeism within the school districts.

Cooper said she would be able to track students absent for a few days through the school system and see whether the absences were excused or unexcused. Unexcused and excused absences still count toward the school absenteeism report.

Souder noted that 68 hours of absences, which equals approximately 10 school days by an individual student are the point when the school will initiate consultations with the parents, so they felt there is a team that helps them “to solve challenges,” said Muro.

Some of the issues that can contribute to students’ absences are what’s called an overall living situation, such as transportation, homelessness, absence of clothes, heat, or water at home, or lack of nutrition.

“Do they ride the bus, not ride the bus,” said Cooper. “What is their living situation?”

Early accomplishments

Ten such initial family meetings were already planned, said Souder, with the Bucyrus High School currently counting around 30 chronically absent students in total, which is approximately 10% of the student population.

Cooper said she also has already reached out to the Job and Family Services and would connect to more non-profits and governmental agencies in the area to get a better understanding of the resources that are available in the community

“That was a big thing that Mr. Souder said too, that everybody is connected,” said Cooper. “Not only so much administration, you need the students, you need families, you need the counselors, the teachers -- they are the ones that see the students every day.”

She said she would also try to meet the Ohio guidelines for the early intervention that starts at six days' absence to let the families know the school is paying attention to their child's absences. According to the State of Ohio data early intervention and creating a favorable learning environment helps fight absenteeism and helps the parents avoid legal troubles.

“That’s not our goal to have the parents get in trouble for the actions of their children,” said Cooper.

Grim alternatives

After missing 18 days in a school year for any reason, a student is considered chronically absent. If the family does not comply or cooperate with the school on the matter and the absences remain unexcused, then the truancy court person gets involved.

“She is more of the hammer,” said Souder. “She will let them know what the possibilities are, what the courts might say, if we go before the judge.”

More: Bucyrus City Schools hires new Social Emotional Learning counselor

The county courts truancy person has 60 days to get improved attendance, but if that does not happen, then the court gets involved, he said. The courts can sentence the parents to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for not fulfilling their parental responsibilities.

Although the first-time offenders often get fines and jail time suspension, they will also get probation terms of six months, and if the situation is not improved then, they will be sent to jail.

Last year, the Bucyrus High School parents got around 15 days of jail time counting one day in jail for one day of an unexcused absence of their children at school, and the students themselves in these situations often get their drivers license suspended until they get their high school diploma.

“We don’t want to get to that point,” said Cooper. “The purpose of education is to learn and grow from that and move forward,” said Cooper.

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Bucyrus City Schools hires Chronic Absenteeism Coordinator