Keota School Board Discusses New Chronic Absenteeism Policies

KEOTA – During the Sept. 12 meeting of the Keota School Board, Superintendent and High School Principal Lisa Brenneman talked about the district’s new chronic absenteeism policies. Under the new policies, letters will be sent if a student misses 10% of a quarter, or four days. After five days, there will be a meeting with parents and the county attorney. After eight days, students will be considered truant. These policies were mandated by the state of Iowa. This year, attendance will begin affecting school rankings.

Brenneman stated the policies were not written clearly and were hard to follow. She stated she will likely ask the board to change the district’s policies from counting absences per quarter. Board member Pat Hammen asked who would pay the attorney fees for chronic absenteeism; Brenneman said that was a good question that wasn’t clear. She noted the school also has to pay extra to send certified letters to parents about absences.

Brenneman said she had spoken to kids about absences, but already had to send out three letters. She stated that the county attorney did not have time to deal with this. She noted that the district was technically supposed to get the county attorney involved in the past, but that the county attorney usually just pushed back starting investigations until after kids were 16, when it didn’t matter.

Board member Jim Tinnes asked if a kid would be counted as absent even if they had to leave to have their wisdom teeth taken out. Brenneman stated different schools would interpret the law differently, but that absences for medical reasons would count against the district’s rating. Brenneman stated she had to send a letter to a kid for getting sick with mono. Tinnes said that didn’t seem right. Board member Bill Kindred said Keota was not unique in having to deal with this and that the law will likely be figured out after other schools complain.

Tinnes stated he would feel terrible for sending a letter to a kid for getting sick. Brenneman said she will try to apply to policies reasonably. She noted that some schools don’t even allow schools to excuse students for a death in the family, and that Keota isn’t supposed to allow that as an excused absence. Brenneman stated that the main difference is that the consequences for absences are now deeper.

She stated that schools are supposed to specify exactly what is and isn’t excused, but that they cannot specify every situation. Board member Dan Redlinger asked what happens if a parent takes a child out of school without giving a reason; Brenneman stated they have to ask, even if parents don’t like it, and that all absences go against the school’s rating. Redlinger stated that no school will have a good rating now.

The board approved raising substitute pay from $125 per day to $135. Brenneman stated the district is still having problems finding substitutes and that she had been asked by subs to raise their pay, due to days now being 45 minutes longer. Brenneman stated the $10 increase sounded reasonable. Tinnes asked if this was enough to make a difference; Brenneman said it would make subs happy. Tinnes stated the school should track how many substitutes are available and see if this helps.

Brenneman brought up the fact that the district’s previous snow remover would not be able to remove snow this year; the board discussed how important it was to find someone else to bid. The board approved hiring AAA for preventative maintenance again. Elementary and Middle School Principal Seth Milledge announced that the new website was done and that its url and email addresses would soon change to keotaEagle.org. Milledge stated that the school had been awarded a DNR Trees for Kids grant to plant 11 trees at the school; these trees will be planted by elementary students with help from the FFA.