LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — Lawrenceburg Community School Corporation heads into the new school year with optimism after combating truancy for a year.
School administrators have been reducing chronic absenteeism through their Attend & Engage program where letters are sent home to parents with students who have several unexcused absences.
"It is the communication piece of the doctor's note, it's the communication piece of parents calling in," said Brice Darling, assistant principal at Lawrenceburg High School.
Darling said in just a year there has been great improvement in student attendance.
"We have run numbers on like our at-risk students and those numbers were in that 20% range where they were attending 20% more often than they were the year before," Darling said.
Watch our video report to see how Lawrenceburg schools are working directly with families to keep students in the classroom and on track for success:
Darling said the initiative made it easier to find solutions to keep students engaged in the classroom.
"Is there some way we can get them to school? Is there some way we can change their schedule? Can we help them find a different route to school?" Darling asked.
The program started off as a collaboration between the prosecutor's office and school administrators in Dearborn County.
"The idea is teaching parents how to parent at an earlier age and then we prevent the child from becoming a problem later on," said Aaron Negangard, judge at Dearborn County Circuit Court.
Negangard said the program is designed to keep parents and students accountable. They are able to address problems early on instead of later in the year when they say it's too late when in-school suspension or a probation hearing with the courts is a consequence for their actions.
"If we're catching them at three unexcused absences instead of waiting until 10 unexcused absences we can help increase attendance and therefore their educational benefit," said Samantha Geary, dean of students at Lawrenceburg Primary Schools.
WCPO 9 News spoke with school officials about how they're connecting families with resources to overcome barriers to attendance, from transportation issues to schedule adjustments that better meet student needs.
Geary said it has improved communication between families and the school.
"We have had parents communicating with us more when their child is ill and not able to attend school," Geary said.
She and superintendent Galey hope to improve attendance even more this school year.
"(We're asking) are there kids last year where we can work with their families to improve their attendance?" Galey said.
