Plan to combat absenteeism in Manatee County schools draws praise from national official

BRADENTON -- The plan to put a dedicated graduation enhancement technician into every Title I school in Manatee County School District -- in an effort to decrease repeated absences -- excites Ron Fairchild.

Fairchild, senior consultant for the national Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, spoke to more than 160 school district officials, community organizations and members of the public Thursday as part of the kickoff for the 2015-16 year.

"It's so exciting to see the Title I money used in a fundamentally different way here," Fairchild said. "That investment is huge and significant."

The 25 technicians, which will cost approximately $1.5 million through federal grants, are new for this school year and will provide an extra layer of support to teachers, guidance counselors, social workers and principals in the 25 district Title I schools. The district is still hiring the technicians.

Nationally, one in 10 students misses a month of school a year, according to data provided Thursday. In Manatee County, 31 percent of Title I students and 28 percent of non-Title I students are considered "chronically absent."

School district figures are based on students who miss 10 days or more of school. Fairchild used 18 missing days of school -- out of an 180-day school year -- to define chronic absenteeism.

The goal? Make attending school habit. Creating habitual attendance takes a conscious effort, said Sheila Halpin, Title I Campaign for Grade-Level Reading executive at the school district.

"We have to consciously modify what we do to have a huge change on student attendance," she said.

The increased focus on addressing chronic absenteeism is part of district participation in the grade-level reading initiative, a national campaign aimed at making sure students are reading on grade level by the end of third grade.

Time and time again, principals and administrators tell Superintendent Diana Greene "if we could just get them in front of the teachers" test scores and learning would go up, Greene said.

"We decided to take that on. We decided to own that issue," Greene said.

Manatee County formally joined the network in October. The local initiative is being led by the school district, the United Way of Manatee County, the Manatee Community Foundation and the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee.

Sarasota County has been a member of the network for a few years. Earlier this summer, the two counties joined forces to become the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level reading.

The campaign identifies major areas to help students reach the mark by the end of third grade. Areas include summer learning loss, school readiness and chronic absenteeism.

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter @MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published July 31, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Plan to combat absenteeism in Manatee County schools draws praise from national official."