As everyone knows, attendance is a primary indicator for student’s success in school. However, getting some students to school can be challenging. Here are some attendance resources and ideas that can be pursued for use at your school. If you have additional suggestions or resources, please send them in so we can share them with other social workers!
Did you know that your students can get a wakeup call in the morning from a celebrity (ie. Nicki Minaj) to help them get up for school? Sign up at this link: https://getschooled.com/wakeup In addition, check out other cool attendance initiatives on https://getschooled.com and sign up your school for a national competition.
If you are having a difficult time reaching parents and need supports, complete a written referral to the School Network DSS Family Preservation worker. The assigned DSS worker will go out to the home and offer supports to the family. The worker can also attend SST meetings as needed.
If a family is worried about their child’s decline in attendance (and behavior), they can contact CINS – Children In Need of Supervision. This is a voluntary prevention program linking up a probationary officer with a child before they reach the Juvenile Justice System. The number is 443-263-8747. http://www.peoples-law.org/node/435
The Truancy Court Program through University of Baltimore Law School. This wonderful positive based program that functions in 6-8 city schools every year and offers intensive weekly intervention at the school. Schools can apply for this program every June. For more information, please see this link http://law.ubalt.edu/centers/cfcc/truancy/index.cfm
Phone number is 410-837-5750.
At Medfield Heights Elementary, they offer a quarterly atten ’dance’ with a DJ for all students who are absent for 2 days or less per quarter.
PBIS. Various incentives can be offered for students who arrive to school on time and every day. For example: Hot Chocolate for the students who arrive on time or weekly raffle tickets/school dollars for students who come to school every day.
Once a student is absent 15 days, you can make a court referral through the Office of Attendance in North Ave. Many times, the referral and appearance at court prompts families to improve their children’s attendance. Forms can be found at: http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/Page/15610
If a student habitually does not show up for school and you can’t reach the parents (phone or home visit), you can call 311 to express your concern for the welfare of the child. Both times that I have gone this route, the parent and child were back at school by the end of the day (and angry that I called police), however, attendance improved drastically.
Meeting with truant students and their families to figure out what is the main barrier in getting to school on time and every day. Depending on the reason, some of the solutions can be as simple as purchasing a simple alarm clock, setting an alarm on the cell phone, assisting students to plan and organize the night before, setting up a school wakeup call (either from a staff member or through global connect), locating a more direct MTA bus route to school, and finding an incentive for student to be at school so they feel it’s worthwhile. This is usually possible if student genuinely believes he/she will be successful.