Attendance awareness campaign

Biancheria: would have appreciated having this information ahead of time
concern with this is we've declared it, we've set the pace for it
"I'm not quite sure what is going to be different"
a number of programs that help us in the attendance area
"I don't have a problem with us joining this crusade"
"when we take additional steps with partners, we as school committee members need to be well-informed"
how this connects with our existing programs
"how do we take all of this and make it new and innovative?"
Boone: community forums, last one on truancy and attendance
looking at the companion issues on student achievement
"work that we are doing is about awareness"
"awareness is the operative word here"
"we know the significant impact that a day or two a month can have"
"we know that there are a number of students who miss significant school time due to the impact of asthma"
"chronic absenteeism in elementary students is usually an adult problem"
"we've treated the symptom too much"
Biancheria: how would we be bringing any suggestion changes in policies? Would hope it would be brought to a standing committee
process and time to consider
Boone: very concerned to hear this idea seeming attacked
Biancheria: articles, not something that we should look at
not always when a press conference is held is the public or all the members of the public given the information
Monfredo: when looking at the data, chronic absenteeism; 3000 students who were more than 18 days absent
particularly acute in low-income families
partners in the community
Novick: would argue that the absence is itself a symptom: sometimes kids are sick
24 hours fever free is the policy of the Worcester Public Schools
glad to see the focus on asthma, but kids who have asthma get bronchitis and sometimes that turns into pneumonia
it's not hard to get to 15 days out if someone gets that sick
what level of coordination is there with the medical community? with our nurses? with pediatricians? with DPH?
Boone: outlying factors
would never encourage children to come to school sick