East Union reviews first semester absenteeism data

AFTON - During principal reports to the board during Monday’s East Union school board meeting, updates on how absenteeism has been affecting East Union during the first semester were given.

Students are considered chronically absent if their attendance rates fall below 90% for a specific period of time, set by the school. East Union Elementary measures attendance for the full calendar year, while the high school measures for each semester. Students are considered truant if the attendance rate falls below 80%.

For the elementary, if a student misses 15 days of the 150-day school year, they’re considered chronically absent. If a student misses 30 days, they’re considered truant.

In the elementary, three students are below the 90% attendance line for chronic absenteeism. This means out of a 175 student body, 1.7% of students are chronically absent at the halfway point of the year.

No student is considered truant at this time. The rest of the 172 students are above 90% attendance. Perfect attendance is noted for 44 students. Elementary students are considered chronically absent when they have missed about 15 days throughout the full school year.

The high school measures attendance by semester. The first semester of this year lasted for 74 days. Students are considered chronically absent if they missed 7.5 days in the first semester. If a student missed 15 days, they’re considered truant.

In the high school, 13 students were considered chronically absent during the first semester of the year, measuring 74 school days. Two students were considered truant in the first semester. Perfect attendance was noted for 42 students, and are included in a total of 155 students who are above 95% attendance.

Schools in Iowa are required to notify the county attorney when students fall below 90% attendance, and again at 80% when they’re considered truant.

Union County Attorney Shane O’Toole has not communicated with the school whether or not the county is taking action on any notification given by East Union.

High School Principal Jason Riley described the attitude students have given toward the attendance policies. Riley has been proactive with informing students and parents about how East Union has adapted state legislation to the school.

“We started having kids coming up front and going, ‘so, how many days exactly have I missed?’” he said to the board. “They’re kind of planning around how many days [the students have] missed, knowing they can’t go over this amount.”

The education for the students have given more awareness around attendance. Riley jokingly noted how one student even called the days students could miss as “personal days.”

With news related about job openings for an high school ag teacher, Riley noted an increase in attention for the position, including one application from as far away as Kenya. According to Riley, a job opening for the school would only receive about two applications. He said he didn’t have a definitive reason why the popularity has increased.

Superintendent Tim Kuehl said the reputation of the school’s ag program was a positive feature, with board member Carol Eckels speculating the school’s four day school week might be appealing to applicants.