Trustees request year-long attendance graphs and clearer staff-survey aggregation

During the June 2 work session, McCombs School District trustees asked staff for more comprehensive attendance reporting and improved presentation of staff interview and survey results.

Higgins Middle School reported a total enrollment of 282 students for May (reported in June), a daily attendance average (ADA) of 84.68 percent, and a 42.61 percent rate of students with two or more absences for the month. The school reported 20 discipline referrals in May, two of which occurred on the bus; teacher attendance for the month was 94.6 percent.

A trustee asked why attendance dips after state testing and how the school is encouraging students to stay through the end of the year; staff cited field trips, field day, awards and promotion ceremonies as incentives. “They just have their feel that we're done,” the Higgins representative said.

Separately, trustees criticized the staff interview/survey report for not indicating how many respondents selected each response option. One trustee said aggregated reports should show counts (for example, how many of 30 respondents gave a particular answer) rather than a single list without frequency information, to give the board better context for interpreting results.

Board members requested a line graph showing attendance highs and lows across the full academic year so the board can spot trends and target interventions.

No formal action was taken at the work session; staff agreed to include year-long attendance visuals and to provide clearer aggregation of survey responses in future reports.