By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
ELLIS—A pre-pandemic attendance incentive is set to return to Ellis High School after last week’s Ellis USD 388 Board of Education meeting.
The discussion came after Ellis Junior/Senior High principal Donna Schmidt noted attendance was down this year.
“You’ll see our attendance was not good this year,” Schmidt said.
She attributed the drop in attendance to an increased focus on having students exhibiting any signs of illness stay home.
She then asked the board to consider re-inserting the pre-pandemic attendance rewards program into the school handbook.
“I would really like to see a room reward system go back into effect,” Schmidt said. “So we can have our attendance have a more positive result or more positive percentage for our attendance.”
She added that students would still be asked to remain home in case of illness, and those absences would not count against the student if documentation from medical personnel documented the need to miss classes.
While acknowledging the need to increase attendance, the board questioned the return of the incentives.
“Are we at all concerned that we’re bringing back the whole idea…if you’re kind of sick, you can go to school, as opposed to staying home,” said board member Jared Schiel.
He said after two years of pushing a message of staying home while exhibiting any potential illness, attendance might be prioritized over health if reimplemented.
Board member Latisha Haag said the district should encourage sick students to seek medical care. Still, others said it is not difficult to obtain a note excusing the absence, no matter the illness.
“We have some students now who know which doctor or clinic to visit to get an excuse or even to call,” Schmidt said.
“Pretty soon, we’re going to have a whole menu of, let me pick which one I want to tell the doctor I want to see,” said board member Marty Hollern.
Brian Shannon also noted as students aim to meet the attendance goal, they may share minor illnesses that impact educational outcomes.
“I think what you’re gonna run into it’s just the kids that have the common cold and maybe doesn’t necessarily warrant seeing a doctor. They can treat it over the counter or something like that, but then they’re going to be coming to school and pass that to the kids on the left and the kids sitting on the right and so on from there,” he said.
The previous policy had offered incentives for attendance by rewarding students with a quarterly off-site lunch and the option to skip comprehensive finals, something the board also questioned the relevancy of in the current education system.
Superintendent Corey Burton noted feedback in previous years, indicating the importance of completing a comprehensive final in higher education is less important than in previous years, as fewer classes require it.
But as an incentive, Haag said they could make a substantial difference.
“That’s a strong incentive,” she said, “because comprehensive exams terrify them. If you had to those students who already struggle in school, that’s a big incentive to be in class, so they don’t have to take those.”
Later in the meeting, the board voted to adopt the junior/senior high school handbook, including the attendance incentive policy. Schiel made a motion to approve the new handbook. Haag offered a second, and the board passed the measure unanimously.
The current policy only applies to high school students.
Expanding the attendance incentives to junior high students will be discussed with teachers and at next month's school board meeting.