With plenty of sports references, the superintendent of Springfield Public Schools played head coach and asked fans Thursday to help the team work for a big win: Improving the district’s student attendance rate.
If the district gets that win, Superintendent Grenita Lathan promised to get doused with Gatorade.
“It’s going to take me a year to get ready for it,” Lathan said, joking, after some SPS employees simulated a post-championship sideline shower with coolers full of blue balloons.
Wearing a coach-like track suit and visor, Lathan spoke about the district’s plan for the 2023-24 school year Thursday during a State of the Schools event organized by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. More than 200 attended the event at Jarrett Middle School Aug. 3.
Attendance goal set
Lathan’s address focused on Springfield Public Schools’ strategic plan for educating students, and ended with the attendance challenge. If the district can improve its average daily attendance rate by 2 percentage points to 91.93%, then Gatorade will replace the balloons in those coolers in August 2024.
She asked the Springfield businesses and community leaders present at Thursday’s event to share the importance of students attending classes in person.
“If you have a marquee, or social media[…] remind them that attendance is crucial,” Lathan said. “We are educating your future workforce. You have skin in the game, just like we do.”
Average daily attendance hovered around the 90% mark until last year, according to numbers provided by the district:
- 89.93% in 2022-23.
- 91.07% in 2021-22.
- 90.42% in 2020-21.
- 92.19% in 2019-20.
- 91.43% in 2018-19.
In a dashboard of statistics from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the state tracks proportional attendance, a measurement that tracks whether 90% of students are in attendance at least 90% of the time. The most recent numbers show that Springfield is behind the state average.
The district’s 69.9% proportional attendance rate for 2021-22 is below the state average of 76.2%. The 69.9% rate is a significant dip from previous years, according to DESE reports: The state reported that proportional attendance rates in Springfield were 83.4% in 2020-21, 81.2% in 2019-20 and 82.7% in 2018-19.
The state has not yet released numbers for the 2022-23 school year.
Important statistic for success
Lathan said that attendance is not just important, but crucial for student success. While absences deny students the chance to learn and also disrupt classes, regular attendance helps boost student performance and confidence.
This year’s effort marks a renewed effort on improving attendance, Lathan said after the address.
“Years ago we had a major campaign, but then we moved into COVID, and it was hard to push students to come to school when they might be showing minor symptoms,” Lathan said. “This is a renewed focus. We are telling students we need you here for 172 days. We know when students miss, they get behind academically, and we might even see behavioral symptoms act out.”
As Lathan asks for the community’s help, she outlined how the district will be working on improving the rate, and removing barriers that keep students away from schools. The district’s family support department will be conducting more home visits to see what can be done.
Lathan said students may deal with a variety of reasons for avoiding classes.
“Some common ones are missing the school bus, or a lack of clothing or hygiene,” Lathan said. “We see homelessness sometimes, and sometimes students experience medical or mental health issues. We have resources on campus to help, and if we don’t have what they need, we have community partners who want to support them.”
Answering the call
The message resonated with Greg Johnson, a client advisor with ServiceMaster. Last year he volunteered to read stories weekly to students. One of his students had an issue with attendance, he said.
“Her principal told me that because she looked forward to seeing me every week, she made a point of coming to school,” Johnson said. “Her attendance improved by 40%.”
Johnson said he plans to again answer the district’s call for help.
In addition to highlighting the attendance rate, Lathan also said the district has need of school bus drivers and cafeteria workers.
Strategic plan the district’s playbook
Lathan also highlighted the district’s accomplishments from last year during the address, focusing on more than 1,800 high school graduates who earned $21.7 million in scholarships. She pointed to successes using Galileo, a tool used to evaluate and assist improvement with test scores. And she highlighted completion of construction projects authorized by voters in 2019 — the newly constructed Jarrett Middle School was one of those final projects.
Jarrett makes a good example of what a new Pipkin Middle School could look like, she said. That school is one of several projects that voters approved in April through a $220 million bond question.
Last year’s event was held at Hillcrest High School, which received an upgrade in that 2019 election package, said Springfield Public Schools Board of Education President Danielle Kincaid.
“Hosting the speech here is a thank you to the community, who passed the bond by almost 78%,” Kincaid said. “Now we have $220 million to spend to improve schools like we did here.”
An in-depth look at the district’s strategic plan captured most of Lathan’s time during the speech. It was developed after interviews and focus groups with parents, community members and staff, as well as site visits and surveys.
Lathan referred to it as the playbook that will keep the team focused on its goals until 2028. Available for viewing on the district’s website, Lathan encouraged community members to get familiar with it, and hold the district accountable for veering off track.
That reliance will also help as the district and its board face looming issues that could develop over the upcoming school year, including disagreement over the potential building site for the new Pipkin Middle School, potential debate over Pride flags in classrooms and a growing presence of political groups seeking to insert national issues into local school boards.
“It’s nice to share that plan with the community, because it is what runs our district,” Kincaid said. “It is our playbook every single day, from the board table to the classroom. That is where our focus is.”
This report has been edited to include attendance rates reported by the school district.
