MISSOULA — Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Missoula school district officials were concerned about the number of students missing 10% or more of school days.
The pandemic accelerated those challenges, forcing the district to look for new ways to address attendance, said Vinny Giammona, the assistant superintendent.
Although attendance rates have improved in the last four years, during the 2023-2024 school year, 34% of Missoula students were chronically absent, missing 15 or more days of school without an excuse, according to district data.
According to district data, 26% of elementary school students missed 15 or more days last school year, compared to 36% of middle schoolers and 47% of high schoolers.
To better address the underlying causes of poor attendance, the Missoula County School District created a group last spring with Missoula County Youth Court and other community partners to brainstorm solutions.
“The more we can address every variable and make more of a system to support attendance, the more success we’ll have connecting to the larger population of kiddos not coming to school,” Giammona said.
Youth Court is working with Providence Health to hire a case manager to help families address problems and ideally stay out of the court system, said Christine Kowalski, chief juvenile probation officer.
“We don’t want the family to feel shamed,” she said. “We want them to tell us what they feel are the barriers and then see what we can do to help them get over those barriers and provide solutions to them.”
The goal is to have 95% of the student population in attendance each day, Giammona said. Average attendance at the state’s eight largest AA districts, including Missoula, hovered around 90% last school year, according to data provided by the district.
Missoula’s average daily attendance increased to 91% in 2023-2024, up from 89% in the two previous school years. Average attendance among elementary students was 93%, compared to 92% among middle schoolers and 89% among high school students.
Giammona said the attendance group evolved from discussions of how to get the district’s average daily attendance up to 95%.
The group, which meets most months, includes district and school staff, Youth Court, Providence Health and juvenile prosecutors from the county attorney’s office. Giammona said he hopes to bring in more community partners to expand the group’s focus and depth of support for students and families.
Members have been brainstorming innovative and progressive ways to reach chronically absent students and their families, Giammona said. The group doesn’t want to only be punitive and is exploring how to build relationships with families, he said.
“We want students excited, engaged and to reinforce their belonging,” Giammona said. “The challenge we have is we want every kid to feel like they have belonging and purpose in school.”
Barriers to attendance vary because of students’ different circumstances and backgrounds, Giammona said. Some parents and guardians may have had negative experiences with school, he said.
Other factors, such as anxiety or other mental health challenges, lack of transportation and workload also play into attendance, Giammona said.
Kowalski, the chief juvenile probation officer, said often parents of multiple children are overwhelmed, potentially struggling financially and dealing with their or their children’s mental health problems. Some older students who are behind academically or experience bullying don’t want to go back, while younger kids struggle to sit through the whole day, she said.
Schools begin by identifying students who are struggling with attendance during the first 30 days of school and connecting with them and their families, Giammona said. Most students respond to early interventions from teachers, counselors and other staff, he said.
The district has implemented several programs to support and engage students, including its virtual Connect Academy, the Youth Crisis Diversion Project and a mobile crisis response unit, Giammona said.
The attendance group will be the next step to help find support for students and families struggling the most with attendance, Giammona said.
Kowalski said she hopes to hire a case manager by January who will lead a team of school personnel, Youth Court staff and school resource officers to work with families on attendance challenges. Providence Health will employ the case manager, and Youth Court will pay their salary using funds from the state, she said.
Families may be more willing to work with a third party rather than a school or Youth Court employee, Kowalski said.
“I think that would make the family feel a little safer, too,” she said. “They can be totally neutral.”
Kowalski said the team will start by talking with families informally to determine barriers and ways to help them. The goal is to keep most families at that level as long as they are involved.
If that isn’t working, the next intervention will include a monthly meeting with one of the county juvenile prosecution attorneys who will explain truancy laws, Kowalski said. Under state law, a parent or guardian can be charged with truancy if they don’t follow a plan to resolve the attendance issues.
Ongoing lack of cooperation could lead to a truancy charge, Kowalski said. Those convicted could face a fine of $100 or less, community service or a required bond conditioned on the person’s agreement to cooperate with the truancy plan.
Threatening a parent with a truancy ticket creates more trauma and barriers, and the attendance team will focus on informal interventions that help people feel more supported, Kowalski said.
“It’s just putting us in a different light for people,” she said, “so they can see us as helpers and go back to that community service approach of law enforcement, rather than the punitive approach we’ve gone to recently in society.”
The case manager will start working with elementary students, with a goal for students to attend 90% of school days, Kowalski said.
“If we can get the K through five [students] on solid ground and really motivated to attend school and figure out what their barriers are, then they’ll have better practice and skills for when they’re going into middle school and then high school,” she said. “Once we can get this on solid ground, then we will move to implement it into the middle schools and high schools.”
Attendance is an “ever-perplexing” piece of public education, and the problem won’t go away entirely, Giammona said.
“It’s going to take a lot of different people and support. It’s going to take learning and learning from our families,” he said. “We know the importance of trying to reach every student. We’re committed to it, … and hope to get more students and families at schools and remove barriers.”
