District 205 administration is still investigating truancy issues and looking for solutions.
A report is expected to be brought to the Board of Education at next month’s meeting.
Superintendent Dr. John Asplund last night told the board that a time study was being conducted by GHS North Principal Jason Spring.
“I asked Mr. Spring to lead outreach workers through a time study so we can find out what work they were actually doing in the buildings. Because, when those positions were created it was — and it’s not 100 percent — most of the impotence was to curb truancy. And over the course of time, those positions have been turned into ‘catchall’ positions.”
The hope is to have a plan in place by next month to help free up the outreach workers and allow them to do their jobs to curb truancy.
Asplund also told the board that monthly reports will be given to the board on a monthly basis.
As far as January enrollment goes, the district continues to see a downward trend.
Dr. Asplund told the school board last night that student enrollment is down one percent or 44 students from where it was last year in January, which is in line with last year’s decline.
Asplund said that students moving out of the area is following along with the trends but also says that transferring to private schools within the area is also possible.
He adds that this area of the state continues to see population outflow.
Board President Tianna Cervantez said during the meeting that the enrollment losses are also trending with overall graduation rates are actually going down nationwide.
“If you look at high school graduation trends, [there are] people who get paid to do this and what they have been telling us for about the last ten years is that the number of high school students that would be graduating from areas in the midwest and northeast is actually on the decline anyway.”
Cervantez added that the downward trend is said to continue until sometime between 2025/30.
