Director: Transitional services supporting roughly 360 students; district to pilot attendance program

Christa Potter, director of Title programs and multilingual student services, told the St. Cloud Public School District board on May 20 that the district’s Transitional Services team is focused on keeping students in school by addressing transportation, clothing, supplies and basic health needs.

“Our goal in transitional service is pretty simple, to support students in attending school, continuing their learning, and fully experiencing all that school has to offer,” Potter said, describing the district’s implementation of the McKinney-Vento federal law.

Potter and Nancy Dyson, the transitional services coordinator, said district records show about 360 students enrolled in Transitional Services this school year. Potter and Dyson explained that the figure differs from earlier, larger counts—roughly 800 reported in prior materials—because the district has revised reporting practices to separate foster-care and other categories and to clean historical data. Potter said the program serves students living in shelters, cars or doubled-up with other families and that transportation is the largest service need.

Dyson described several near-term changes designed to increase outreach and continuity of service. The team plans to pilot an attendance support program over the summer, operationalize distribution of available resources so schools can request targeted supports, and institute new communications documentation to track phone calls, emails, texts and in-person contacts.

Board members asked how staff locate students who might qualify for services. Potter said the district depends on school staff across job classifications—from custodians to counselors—to flag families and let Transitional Services staff follow up. On the question of truancy and referrals, the presenters said individual schools follow board policy for attendance and that, when required by local procedures, truancy cases are escalated into that process.

A board member asked whether much of the decrease in enrolled students reflects a true drop in need or changes in classification; Potter and Dyson said it is a mix of both reporting changes and turnover in staff networks and relationships that identify students. The presenters noted that housing availability in St. Cloud and broader community events also affect the district’s transient population.

The presentation closed with Potter and Dyson requesting continued local support for outreach and partnership-building with community providers and county services to reach families in need. The board thanked the presenters and recognized the work of the Transitional Services team.