The Eastport South Manor Policy Committee presented a two-year review of district chronic-absenteeism data during the Oct. 29 meeting and placed the revised attendance policy on first reading.

"Our attendance data is based on chronic absenteeism, which really is defined by the state as 10% or more of a school year being absent, which is about 18 days a year," said Mr. Fabian during the policy report. He told the board that the district's buildings showed improvement from the 20234 school year to 20245 and that district-wide chronic-absence rates were trending down.

Fabian said changes to the policy largely formalize practices already in place: strengthened notification procedures after the district switched to a new student information system, building-level attendance committees, tracking and follow-up protocols, and expanded student-engagement strategies such as spirit weeks, assemblies and field trips to encourage attendance. "I think the most important thing ... is that we've really just worked really, really hard," Fabian said, citing outreach and school activities as part of the improvement.

Board members noted the policy book requires an annual review of attendance data and agreed to a cadence for that review. The attendance policy and several purchasing-related policy updates were presented as first readings; the committee said the attendance policy will come back for a second reading at the Nov. 19 meeting.

Why this matters: Chronic absenteeism is a state-recognized metric tied to student outcomes and potential state reporting requirements. The district's reported improvement is the result of both practice changes and engagement strategies; the board emphasized it will monitor data annually and reopen the policy if trends reverse.

Next steps: Second reading and potential adoption of the attendance policy at the Nov. 19 meeting; administration will continue district-level attendance monitoring and report progress to the board.