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WARREN -- School board members and district administrators shared their reactions to state report card ratings and discussed strategies to improve scores at the board meeting Tuesday.
The district's report card, which was released by the Ohio Department of Education earlier this month, gave the Warren City School District an overall rating of 2.5 stars out of 5.
"Of course, no, we're not elated about 2.5 stars," board President Julian Walker said. "But we are elated about the gains."
During a presentation by the district's administrative team, Superintendent Steve Chiaro said they wanted to focus on the significant increases that the district had made.
"That was kind of the name of the game on the report card," Chiaro said. "There are no areas that really show decreases except for one area in one building."
Chiaro said the district saw chronic absenteeism decrease by 10%. He said the district also has seen improvements in gap closing, which is up 7.3%.
Chiaro made a point to highlight Willard PK-8 for scores in progress, 3 stars, and gap closing, 4 stars. He said Willard was previously at 2 stars in gap closing.
One school in the district that saw decreases was Warren G. Harding High School, which saw its progress rating fall from two stars down to one.
"We are absolutely not pleased with that," Chiaro said. "When we break down the areas of the data, we realize, very simply, and we're not blaming the pandemic, but an area that we have struggled with in our report card the last few years or so has been algebra I and biology. I believe that's another area that Regina Teutsch (the district's executive director of curriculum and instruction) and her team are focusing on."
Chiaro said the high school did improve its gap closing rating by 17.4%.
He said he believes every school in the district should have a 3-star rating, as three of the five do.
Further in the presentation, the board discussed how to improve attendance.
"There's no such thing, other than our internal system, of an excused absence. Every minute a child is out of school counts against them," Chiaro said. "The clock is running, every time. They have COVID and they're out for five days, it counts against them. Death in the family, it counts against them. They're allowed to make up their work for credit to not fall behind, that's all internal. But from the state perspective, every minute they're out of school, the clock is running."
Walker went as far as to say that there are no such things as excused absences. He said any time a student misses, regardless of reason, it counts not only against their own record, but that of the district.
"Parents need to be very diligent," Chiaro said. "When their children are sick, they need to stay home. When their children are not sick, they need to come to school. That's something that we can work our magic on to try to influence or impact the data, but ultimately, we don't have the full control on that piece."
Later in the presentation, Dante Capers, associate superintendent of student services, said improved attendance is the first step to improving all aspects of academic performance.
"While we're pleased to see the progress that we have had with the 10% reduction (in absenteeism), its still too high," Capers said. "Excellent attendance, great attendance, simply isn't a priority for too many of our families."
Capers said when a student misses 10 percent of the school year or more, which is two days per month, it negatively impacts early literacy and the ability to graduate on time, among other factors. He said those numbers are based on nationwide data.
Capers said a catch phrase that the district is pushing is "Be great. Less than 8, and don't be late!"
"When we say be great, we want every student to be at their best," Capers said. "Let's keep our absences to less than eight for the year. That has us at about one day per month. Then also, to not be late. I had a conversation with a parent today stressing the importance of being to school on time. Unexcused tardies are not ideal. We want to get away from those."
Capers said the district is hoping to better address the needs of students, as well as keep them engaged, through academic clubs and other extracurricular activities.
"We're expanding our opportunities for students to be meaningfully engaged in our school culture, even beyond academics," Capers said. "We know that if a student has a meaningful connection, they're more likely to do well academically and also graduate on time."