Student Absences
Greene County
Community Partnership of the Ozarks, Inc.
Core Result: Children Succeeding in School
Benchmark: Absenteeism
February 2002
Objective
Decrease headlice related absences from 3,220 in 97-98 school year to 1,600 in the school year of 2001-2002. Decrease medical related absences from 3,394 in 97-98 school year to 3,070 in 2001-2002.
Strategies
Research indicates that student attendance and academic achievement are correlated. In addition, students who attend school regularly feel more connected to their neighborhoods and are less likely to drop out of school. Understanding this, the partnership developed these strategies:
- School Health Nurses: the nurse time was increased for more
availability to the students and the community.
- Social Workers and Social Work Interns: workers were available in the
community to help families address concerns that kept their children from
attending school. Crisis intervention was available for families as well as
services to help with basic needs.
- Attendance recognition programs: programs were established to recognize
students who increased their attendance and also for students who had perfect
attendance.
- After School Clubs: clubs were based on neighborhood needs, student request
and teacher identified concerns. If the child missed school, then they could
not participate in the club for that day. With additional volunteer support,
the number of clubs and availability increased.
- LINK School Based Clinic: In partnership with the Greene County Health
Department, nurses are outsourced to the school site to provide preventive
care to students who have no resources available to them. This preventive
clinic has helped to increase access to care for families.
- Cox CAREMobile: Through a partnership with Cox Health Systems and the
Children’s Miracle Network, a mobile clinic is stationed in the Caring
Communities neighborhoods providing preventive health services to residents.
Noteworthy In community meetings conducted by the Caring Communities evaluator, residents of the neighborhoods served identified the School Health Nurse as their “primary” health care provider, indicating a lack of access in neighborhoods to adequate health care.
Results
Funding/Return on Investment For every $1 of Caring Communities flexible funds invested, there is a return of $4.11 leveraged in the community. In addition, for every day that a student is in the classroom, the school district gains additional funding. The students gain additional education and an increased possibility for success. The community gains productive citizens.
Barriers / Road Blocks
Although these strategies have consistently shown positive results, the school district has not made the commitment to continue the strategies without Caring Communities support. However, for FY 03, the budget request under consideration does include financing to continue the strategy of School Health Nurses.
Systems reform/policy change:
Although we have been successful in leveraging resources in our community, we have had difficulty in getting the school district to pick up the costs for the strategies that have proven successful with their population. This is largely because Springfield Public Schools is financially strapped and does not have the resources to do so. It is imperative that, at the state level, consideration be made to support funding for School Health Nurses, School Based Social Workers and After-School Clubs that have proven to be successful in keeping children safe and in school.
