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School Programs Target Poor Attendance
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In addition, during the 2003-04 school year, 29 percent of high school seniors in Brown County were absent without an acceptable excuse for five or more full days. The Wisconsin average for senior truancy is 10 percent. Brown County ranks second only to Milwaukee in senior truancy.
The Attendance Task Force’s research demonstrated that poor school attendance does exist across all schools, populations and grade levels. Even adults seem to place less emphasis on the importance of school attendance.
For instance, the 2006 Brown County Quality of Life Survey reported almost 25 percent of adult respondents believe that it is okay for students to miss ten days of school per year.
To address that, the Brown County United Way’s Youth Development Impact in 2005, and again in 2006, designated $50,000 to the development of programs to improve middle and/or high school attendance in Brown County while studying how youths’ overall choices about substance abuse, sexual behavior, criminal activity, and school attendance become strong indicators of their quality of life as adults.
Brown County United Way Community Impact Director Stephanie Foley observed that the school setting needed to engage students beyond academics. “We wanted to help turn school into a community,” said Foley. “Our overall concept is to fund programs at the school so it can develop into the community aspect of these students’ lives.”
For example, as part of the $50,000 in grants given to address attendance problems last year, almost $5,000 was awarded to “Gotcha Covered Mentors,” a Denmark High School program developed for the school in which an upperclassman was paired with a freshman at random in an attempt to connect students with one another to connect them with the school.
As a result of the mentorship program and the five student nights that were held at the school, several improvements were recorded. From the 2004-2005 school year to the 2005-2006 school year:
- Students receiving passing grades increased from 80 percent to 87 percent;
- Students not suspended increased from about 90 percent to approximately 96.5 percent percent;
- Average daily attendance increased from 96.6 percent to 97.1 percent, and
- Students participating in extracurricular activities increased from about 60 percent to 88 percent.
With a successful school year behind them, Foley believes that the change of culture at Denmark High School can be duplicated throughout the area.
This year, total funding recommendations of $50,000 will be allocated to the following six areas:
Organization |
Program Name |
Description |
Amount |
Bay Port High School |
Freshman Advisory Program |
Targets 410 students to improve attendance, participation, adult connections, and decrease behavioral referrals. |
$10,000 |
Green Bay Area Public Schools |
Link Crew |
Targets 1550 students at SWHS, PHS, and WHS to decrease truancy, improve credit attainment, and reduce behavioral referrals. Expansion of the proven success at SWHS. |
$10,000 |
Howe Neighborhood Family Resource Center |
Supporting Students… |
Targets 192 students aged 10-14 and 52 families to increase school attendance for both at-risk and non-at-risk students. Combines efforts of 5 agencies – HNFRC, UW-Ext, GBAPS, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, and UWGB. |
$10,000 |
Denmark High School |
Gotcha Covered |
Targets 550 students to improve attendance, school climate, participation, school connectivity, and academic achievement. |
$9500 |
Bay View Middle School |
Up With Attendance |
Targets 778 students and their families to increase attendance, reduce bullying, increase school connectedness, and increase parent participation. |
$5300 |
Washington Middle School |
Watch Me Succeed |
Targets 150 students to increase attendance and academic achievement and increase student connectedness. |
$5200 |
Total Funding Recommended |
$50,000 |
Community wide statistics and results
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