Head Count Weeks

This coming week is one of two weeks during the year when attendance matters most. Every student will be accounted for every day of the week and the total number will be used in calculating our funding level from the state. The count will be taken again in the spring and the equation adjusted further.
Here’s the way it works. Suppose your student attends every day but has an unexcused absence Friday. That means he was absent 20% of the week. And, that means the state will assume that he will be absent 20% of every week the rest of the year. And, they will enter that figure into the 24 page formula that is used to calculate how much money they send to your district.
It doesn’t have to make sense or be fair. They have your money and they will determine what to do with it. Likely they will continue to mislead you about the actual dollars sent back to your district.
There is also a calculation for transportation reimbursement and that count is taken next week also. It would be good if every student who might ride at any time throughout the year would ride every day next week to maximize the formula for reimbursement.
Members of the administration point out that the formula penalizes districts even more than might be apparent on the surface. It has to do with those students who likely to have an unexcused absence.
Think for a moment about your own experience and perhaps that of your children. If you were not in the habit of skipping school for an unexcused reason it is likely you attended and studied and worked on the task at hand.
On the other hand, if you were a student who did not particularly enjoy school, it is more likely you required teacher time and attention beyond regular classroom time. It is further likely you were a behavior challenge and more administrative time was invested in helping you get with the program. If, in fact, that ever happened. But they tried.
Along comes the state funding formula and its 24 pages of calculations and determines that if you skip school without a valid excuse during the head count week they are going to fund your district at a lower level. The net effect being that the student who costs more to serve causes the district to receive fewer dollars.
The bottom line is that schools are not a stand alone service. Friends, families and others who are interested in a student’s success in life are an essential part of the equation. Some students need more help than others but all benefit from any outside help.
There is a generally accepted concept about young people that has proven true far too often to be a mistake. If a young person has an adult in their life with whom they have a meaningful relationship, the young person has a greater chance of succeeding in life.
The relationship need not be formal or time consuming. All that is required is that the young person desires not to disappoint the adult who cares for him. It could be as simple as asking a student how school is going and taking a sincere interest in the answer.
Give us a hand this week by making sure every student you influence gets to school. Preferably by bus. Give us a continuing hand by taking an interest in a student. You may learn something. And they may help you with your phone or computer at a bargain rate.