Some students in Jefferson County who were registered for school last year have yet to set foot in their classrooms, either virtually or in person. And after one month into the young school year, superintendents say some of their schools are still trying to find these absent students.
Watson Chapel Superintendent Jerry Guess said that when school first started, the district had 90 students who were unaccounted for.
"What we've found out is the parents were in the dark with what they were supposed to do," said Guess. "Last year we finished the last nine weeks of school with [alternative method of instruction] packets. Some of those parents were still in the dark whether or not they needed to reenroll their kids."
Guess said that once those students were enrolled, either virtually or in-person, there were still students to find. With an extended enrollment deadline of Sept. 30 from the Arkansas Department of Education, Guess said that gives his principals more time to look for no-shows.
On Sept. 8, the state Division of Elementary and Secondary Education temporarily extended the period for dropping students who had not reported to school as expected, either in-person or virtually, or students on whom the district had no other information with which to verify the reason for non-attendance. Those students, typically referred to as "no-shows," would remain enrolled in the district until Sept. 30, unless the district receives verification that the students should be dropped for a reason other than "no-show."
"We usually drop kids on the 10th day of school if they have not shown up," said Guess. "Principals compiled the list that they were expecting to show up, and for those who did not show, the list was then given to the student's counselor and the counselor began to make contact."
The White Hall district ran into similar problems with 50 students who did not return at the beginning of the school year. Superintendent Doug Dorris said there now are 21 students for whom officials have not obtained information on their whereabouts.
The state has provided procedures that schools should follow until students can be found and assigned to the appropriate instructional option. These procedures include: Gathering data and determine if the student isn't home-schooled or waiting for confirmation for virtual learning, Creating a school outreach team to contact the parent(s) and encourage the parent(s) to enroll the student(s) in one of the three learning/instructional options: on-site/traditional learning, virtual/remote learning, or hybrid/blended learning.Conducting a home visit to encourage the parent(s) to enroll their student(s).
"We've called, sent letters, too, and everything else and cannot find those from last year that were here on March 12," said Dorris. "Everybody else we located and got them enrolled in virtual school or on campus right now."
Dorris said his principals and secretaries are making calls daily, but most of the phone numbers on file or either disconnected or not being answered. Bus drivers also are helping out.
"The bus drivers are familiar with the students who are missing from their route," he said. "When the bus drivers are riding their route, they'll look to see if anybody is in that house."
Continuous efforts from faculty and staff members also reduced the numbers for Watson Chapel, which is now down to just two students in the district who have not shown up for school.
After the counselors filtered through the list and made progress, the remaining names on the list were given to the district's information technology team.
"They worked their magic looking for them, using other phone numbers and other databases," said Guess.
While most of the schools in Jefferson County have seen a decrease in enrollment, White Hall High School has seen a slight increase this year. According to the Education Department, 898 students are enrolled compared with 892 from the 2018-2019 school year.
White Hall Middle School also had an increase going from 698 to 738, according to the department.
Watson Chapel High School decreased from 604 to 536, and Watson Chapel Junior High School decreased from 615 to 590.
Both superintendents said other factors have played into the decrease, such as students who have transferred to other districts, moved to other parts of the state or moved out of state.
Even though enrollment numbers aren't where they were this time last year, Guess said each day officials are getting closer.
"We had a kid yesterday enrolling in first grade from out of state," said Guess. "Our enrollment has been going up three or four kids a day and it is continuing to do that."
For those students still missing-in-action, they will be marked as no-shows when the district has exhausted all attempts to locate and engage the students. The students are then dropped as of the first day of school, according to the state.
The state said it will work with Education Service Cooperatives and other partners to develop strategies to assist with finding the students.
