BOE discusses AMI days, attendance at Tuesday’s meeting

By Jazmine Knight

The St. Joseph School District board of education has a laundry list of agenda items going into Tuesday’s school board meeting.

To open the meeting on a positive note, the district honored one local social worker, Lavell Rucker, with Missouri’s School Social Worker of the Year award.

After that, both Superintendent, Gabe Edgar, and Assistant Superintendent, Ashly McGinnis, delivered reports regarding the long range plan, attendance and other items.

Edgar says he and Robert Sigrist will soon begin reaching out to local architects about the construction of two new high schools.

“I want to make sure to do our due diligence and give them the opportunity to at least have a conversation with us,” Edgar said.

McGinnis provided an update on student attendance in comparison to last year.

“We ended last week, on Thursday, at 85.68%. So if you compare that to September of 2023, we were at 82.97%,” McGinnis said. “So around the same time frame. So that’s about a 2.71 increase in attendance right now over the last year.”

She says thanks to district staff, officials are able to retrieve attendance data on a weekly basis. They are then able to send that data to principals.

Currently there are five schools with an 90% or above attendance rating which includes Eugene Field, Pershing, Bessie Ellison, Oak Grove and Hyde. Seven schools are close to the 90% expectation. Those schools are Bode, Coleman, Edison, Hosea, Parkway, Skaith, and Pickett. Among the schools with lowest attendance rates are Lafayette, Carden Park, Benton, Central and Lindbergh. McGinnis says right now, there are 21 students and their parents on the diversion program.

“Grade levels above 90% are third grade and fourth grade, and then the lowest attending grade levels are everything within the high school,” she said. “So we are trying to do some family engagement nights with those specific schools to get parents on board.”

LaTonya Williams, school board president, says she’s extremely proud of the improved attendance. She believes the improvement isn’t just attributed to one effort but instead it’s the overall positive reinforcement surrounding the kids and parents.

“There are even a couple of classes and they have 100% attendance and that hardly ever happens,” she said. “It’s just easier to get up in the morning if you’re in a better mood, if there’s a better feeling.”

Additionally, McGinnis announced the district’s decision to utilize AMI days this school year. AMI stands for alternative methods of instruction. An AMI day can be used as a virtual learning day when students would otherwise have a day off.

“This is specifically for isolated school closures. If you remember, last year Hyde had to shut down for one day because of a water issue,” said McGinnis. “So when we have those situations, it’s advantageous for us to use AMI.”

Williams says AMI days are helpful when it comes to keeping the district in compliance with yearly hours. Also, AMI days can help the students stay on track instead of missing a complete day of school.

“I think it’s a good compromise and it’s a positive for the district,” said Williams.

For action items, the district approved a bid for contractors on the fine arts bond project, an update for a concussion protocol agreement and some updates to a few district policies.

Furthermore, the district approved a professional certification agreement. This agreement will have the district pay $180 for employees to complete a 20-hour substitute teacher course through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. This would make teachers eligible to serve as paraprofessionals.

“Lots of times people are interested in the district and being a para or a substitute of the district, but having to pay 180 at the beginning of a new job, a lot of individuals are not able to do that,” said Williams.

She believes this program will benefit tons of employees while protecting the district. The agreement also states that each employee must pay the district back the $180 if they don’t remain employed with the district for at least six months.

The district was also accepted into the Success Ready Students Network.

“Participation in this work allows SJSD to reimagine and redesign our state assessment and accountability system alongside other school districts across Missouri,” according to the meeting agenda on the district website.

To conclude the meeting, school board officials will talk about the Play It Safe Curriculum, program designed to teach students age-appropriate sexual abuse training.

Beginning in Pre-K all the way through 12th grade, school counselors will deliver classroom lessons that utilize videos and scripted instruction that teaches children about inappropriate sexual abuse and relationships.

Elementary students will focus on good touch versus bad touch. Middle school will center their lessons around abuse of power relationships while high schoolers will learn about unhealthy physical relationships. All grade levels will inform students on who they should report any sexual violence/abuse to.

Parents do have the option to opt out if they wish.