Liberty board OKs community engagement job

Will focus on absenteeism and boosting enrollment

LIBERTY -- Chronic absenteeism is a problem many local school districts face, and one of them hopes to take a stronger stand against it.

The Liberty Board of Education at its meeting earlier this week approved establishing the student and community engagement liaison position. The liaison will focus on boosting early enrollment, tracking attendance data, and connecting families with district and community resources to remove barriers to attendance.

The full-time position will report to district principals and Superintendent Brian Knight starting in the 2026-27 school year.

The resolution also authorizes Knight to advertise for the position, evaluate applicants, recommend a qualified candidate to the board and take all other actions necessary to implement it.

Knight said Wednesday that officials realized a need for a position to help reduce absenteeism -- someone who could commit to connecting with families directly.

"In addition -- making sure that we had the opportunity to get kindergarten and preschool students in and they understood the expectations of kindergarten and preschool," Knight said. "It's no longer just to learn, to play and socialize -- there are standards that go with it."

"We felt to make sure people within our community knew what some of those standards were for preschool and kindergarten -- be able to have somebody who was dedicated to it, in addition to supporting our families that need support with chronic absenteeism."

In terms of the issues students face, Knight said a lot of the district's students are present, and it's a matter of being there on time, adding that he thinks some parents don't realize that attendance is measured in minutes, not just days attended.

"If you miss, you know, the first 10 minutes of school each day, by late January or early February, you could -- your child could be considered chronically absent," Knight said. "Even though they're here all the time. It's the tardies that can impact; same thing with early dismissals."

Knight acknowledged factors such as students lacking transportation or sleeping in, adding that the position will help identify what attendance barriers families face and provide them with resources to overcome them. He said they've been addressing the issue for a couple of years now, noting the district has the "Stay in the Game!" program with the Cleveland Browns, which school officials have used for the past several years, and has an attendance board.

And the district has seen an improvement, according to data from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, which tracks attendance and absenteeism rates over the past five school years.

Statistics show the district's chronic absenteeism rate was 45.8% in the 2021-22 school year -- with nearly identical numbers across boys and girls.

Statistics from the 2025-26 school year show the rate since then has dropped to 36.4%, with boys (39.6%) missing more school than girls (33.1%).

"I think now we're going to have the opportunity to really do a deep dive on some of these barriers and find out what's going on and determine what we need to do to help our families," Knight said. "Whether it's something as simple as an alarm clock or a regular phone call home each day reminding them to get up."