Schools work to keep kids in class

When the bell rings at Omaha Northwest High School, Cameron Gales heads for the central hallway.

He nods to several students as they stream by on their way to class. He chats briefly with an administrator. He talks for a time with a youth in front of a trophy case.

Depending on the day, Gales might pull students out of class and meet with them. If necessary, he'll provide a referral to a social service agency. He's even gone to court with students facing truancy charges.

Part counselor, part mentor, Gales is a youth attendance navigator. His job, working closely with school staff, is to help steer kids who are missing too much school past the barriers that keep them from attending regularly — preferably before they run afoul of the law.

Most of the time, he tries to keep things casual. “A lot of times, I try to catch 'em in the hallways, just passing by,” said Gales, a big man who plays for a Council Bluffs arena football team. He also coaches freshman football at Northwest and often answers to “Coach.”

The youth navigator program is one of a number of school-focused efforts in the metropolitan area in which interested adults step in to try to get kids back to school.

Gales' efforts, which are funded by the education-focused philanthropy Building Bright Futures, started as a pilot last March. Now the program is being duplicated at four other schools.

Within weeks, Gales, who works for the Urban League of Nebraska, will be joined by navigators at Omaha South High School and at three of the Omaha school district's middle schools, in partnership with the City of Omaha.

Building Bright Futures and various partners work with 23 schools in the metropolitan area on a variety of initiatives to reduce absences, including the attendance navigator program.

At an Omaha middle school, a judge meets weekly with students and their parents. At Ralston's middle and high schools, students with frequent absences are paired one-on-one with a staff member.

Many schools have formed attendance teams made up of counselors, administrators and others.

The issue is by no means a new one. But the passage of Legislative Bill 800 last year put more focus on the size of the problem. It requires schools to report absences to the state and to collaborate with county attorneys on how to deal with truants.

Gov. Dave Heineman also has made the issue a priority, as have the superintendents of the Omaha metropolitan area's 11 public school districts. State Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha introduced a measure that would divert some Learning Community funds to anti-truancy efforts.

At their heart, the initiatives have the same goal: to get kids in school, where they can learn.

“We talk about school performance, but we don't paint the picture to the community that absenteeism is a huge issue in achievement,” said Rachel Wise, Building Bright Futures' chief operating officer.

These efforts aim to figure out what's keeping kids from going to school and to connect them — and their families, if necessary — with help. That might mean providing referrals to mental health services or to agencies that can help parents find jobs. Or it might involve incentives to keep kids coming to school.

Diane Pfeiffer, Northwest's director of guidance, said she has heard of students staying home to care for younger siblings while their parents are at work. “That's where we want to say, ‘What can we do to help you so your child can just worry about getting to school?'” she said.

Other factors also come into play, including fears and anxieties associated with school, said Steve Snodgrass, a school social worker with the Ralston Public Schools. It's a complicated mix.

So current efforts focus on creating relationships with students and families and on catching attendance problems early on, before students rack up a large number of absences.

If a judge rules that a student is truant — which is a status offense, not a crime — the youth could face a number of sanctions, including being put into a group home. The legal mark for truancy is 20 missed days in a school year. But research indicates that grades suffer after 10 absences, Wise said.

It takes time — and rapport — to dig into a student's story, Pfeiffer said.

That's where adults such as Gales come in.

Gales started last spring with about 30 frequently absent students — some who'd missed enough school to be referred to juvenile court on truancy charges.

One was Nash Campbell, who had missed school despite her parents' urgings.

Gales began talking with Campbell. About that time, Campbell entered a school-based program that helped her make up class credits. Gales frequently sat in. When her court date arrived, Gales went with her and explained that she was back on track. The judge dismissed the charges.

Campbell said she didn't like going from class to class with large groups of students. The credit-makeup program kept her with the same small group of students all day. She had more opportunities to ask questions.

“Now I know if I have a problem, I can go talk to Cameron or my counselors and figure out what I need,” said Campbell, who wants to study auto mechanics.

Gales, for his part, understands what a mentor can mean in a kid's life. He credits several in his own, including his boss at the Urban League, former Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren.

Lately, Gales has shifted to earlier interventions. He's added more students. Last year, he organized a food drive with his students as a way to re-engage them in the community. Recently, he set up a Facebook page — arranged to protect privacy — to help keep in contact with the students.

Douglas County Juvenile Court Judge Elizabeth Crnkovich has taken on a similar role at Omaha's Norris Middle School.

In October, the judge began meeting weekly with students who had shown a pattern of missing school. Their parents and school staff sit in.

Crnkovich, who last year launched a pre-court diversion program for students charged with truancy, wears her black robes to show she means business. When one family didn't come for a few weeks, she called them from the school library.

But the real goal is to build relationships and solve problems, she said. She and the families might talk about the challenges of being a teen and of parenting teens.

“Confrontation doesn't translate into problem-solving and helping these kids change,” Crnkovich said.

The program is modeled after one started by a juvenile court judge in Louisville, Ky., where Crnkovich and other Omahans visited last spring. The judge, who volunteers her time, started with six students and families and plans to add more in the coming weeks.

Another judge is expected to take the program to Omaha's Monroe Middle School this semester.

At the same time, programs in several schools, with Ralston as a lead, are linking staff members to at-risk students. Ralston and other schools have begun asking students with frequent absences to sign attendance contracts. A number of schools use incentives — from T-shirts and pop to gift cards and pizza parties — to encourage school attendance.

Students need to attend school to grow attached to it, Ralston's Snodgrass said. If they feel like they belong, they'll achieve more.

Norris is trying to focus on the positive, welcoming kids to school and remembering birthdays, Assistant Principal Jason Sutton said.

Rather than harping on a late-arriving student, he said, staff members might say, “Glad you're here,” and throw in a, “Wish you were here earlier.”

Pfeiffer, Northwest's guidance director, said the high school took a similar approach after a survey indicated that students felt it wasn't a particularly welcoming place.

“That's one of the barriers, ‘I don't feel like I'm welcomed or noticed,' ” Pfeiffer said. “It definitely matters.”

Most of these programs are in their early days, so there's not a lot of evidence of improvement yet.

“Anytime you build positive relationships with families and students, it's going to improve academics,” said Matt Ray, director of student community services for the Omaha district.

Some data from Ralston Middle School indicates that incentive programs are making a difference, said Silas Clarke, an attendance coordinator at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, which partners with Building Bright Futures.

Norris officials have seen some improvements in attendance this year, among the student body in general and among the students involved in Judge Crnkovich's program.

Leanna Jurgens, a school counselor at Norris, said she's noticed that students in the program are performing better and that their demeanor has improved. “They're much more responsive, much more at ease in their surroundings,” she said.

Gales has seen similar changes in Campbell. “She's kind of blossomed,” he said.

Gales and Campbell still talk. Campbell also checks in with Stephanie Hoesing, a school social worker, about once a week. But now the focus is on the future. The day before Christmas, the 17-year-old senior sent Gales a text message: She'd been accepted at a Wyoming technical school. She's since been contacted by another school.

Gales said he and school staff will help Campbell look at her options and consider what's best for her. “We'll try to prepare her for that.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1223, julie.anderson@owh.com

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