Auburn School District officials are working toward developing truancy boards after the recent passage of House Bill 2449 made them a state mandate.
Rhonda Larson, assistant superintendent for family engagement and student success for Auburn schools, said she is collaborating with other area districts to figure out the best way to proceed with the legislation.
Truancy boards must be in place by the start of the 2017-18 school year, she said.
Larson said she and several colleagues have examined the models and research of some Pierce County school districts, such as Bethel and Puyallup, that have truancy boards in place, as well as Spokane.
“Because we’re still in the figuring-it-out phase, I think everyone is working on it,” she said.
Larson said it is important to work locally with Stephanie Sato, King County deputy prosecutor, because area schools must have a juvenile justice official on truancy boards.
While the Auburn School District does not have a truancy board now, Larson said it has “workshops” for elementary school students with open Becca Bill filings. That legislation was passed after 13-year-old runaway Rebecca Hedman was murdered in 1995. For older students, Larson said those within the district are working on interventions before Becca Bill filings are necessary, and “attendance workshops to keep them in the school.”
The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) monitors unexcused absences in all grades, with a special emphasis on students who have accumulated 10 or more. OSPI’s most recent data, from the 2014-15 school year, focused on students with five or more unexcused absences in a month.
The percentage of Auburn students in kindergarten through eighth grade with five or more unexcused absences in a month was about 1.9 percent. The King County average was 2.1 percent.
In grades 9-12, the percentage of Auburn students with five or more unexcused absences in a month was 14.4 percent. The King County average was 11.7 percent.
Larson said the district tracks students with 18 or more absences – excused or not. In 2015, the percentage of students who met that threshold was 19.41 percent. That was an increase from 2014 (18.27) and 2013 (18.1), according to Larson.
“We have a lot of room for improvement,” she said.
