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Community school initiatives
Community school initiatives are another tool used
by school ocials to address absenteeism. Students
and families are connected to a broad range of
services, including food and clothing assistance,
mental health treatment, and academic enrichment,
through community school initiatives, which aim to
meet the educational, physical, and emotional needs
of economically disadvantaged students, families,
and communities.
On OREA surveys, 60 principals (13 percent) and
26 attendance supervisors (26 percent) stated they
have used community school initiatives to address
student attendance in their schools.
Communities in Schools (CIS)
One community school model operating on a
national level is Communities in Schools (CIS). A
nonprot organization founded in 1977, CIS was serving 1.56 million students in 2,300 schools nationwide
as of 2018. CIS rst came to Tennessee in 2012, beginning with a pilot program in four Nashville schools
before expanding to Memphis in 2014. As of the 2019-20 school year, CIS has expanded to 17 schools in
Metro Nashville and 27 schools in Shelby County and the Achievement School District. While the national
organization (including CIS of Memphis) focuses primarily on students at risk of dropping out of school,
CIS of Tennessee chose to focus on chronic absenteeism.
AS
Over the past year, CIS of Tennessee has shifted its
focus to address more explicitly whole child needs, including social and emotional development, basic needs
supports, and more, all of which are contributors to chronic absenteeism.
CIS hires, trains, and pays for a site coordinator at each of its 38 partner schools in Tennessee.
AT
(e principal
at each CIS partner school may provide input in the nal phase of the site coordinator hiring process.)
When beginning work at a partner school, CIS site coordinators conduct a needs assessment, collect data,
interview school ocials, recognize what the school is doing well, and identify issues that may lead to chronic
absenteeism. ey then work with school sta to write a school support plan that includes a road map of
services the site coordinator will ensure are provided over the course of the school year.
e CIS model involves three levels of services that site coordinators tailor to t the needs of their schools. All
Tier 1 services are available to every student, and these services address issues that are associated with student
absenteeism, such as lack of clothing, food, and health checkups and screenings. In Tier 2, site coordinators
build caseloads of 10 percent of the student body (up to 50 students) who have been identied as high risk
and work with them in small groups based on their specic needs (e.g., grief support, tutoring, etc.). Students
in Tier 3 receive more individualized supports aimed at removing their specic barriers to attending school.
CIS has reported successful results in some schools. For example, the organization points to a decrease in the
absenteeism rate from 24 percent to 7 percent at Wooddale Middle School, an Achievement School District
charter school in Memphis, in 2017 following the implementation of various incentives designed to increase
student attendance. In 2018-19, 13 of the 17 CIS schools in Nashville reduced their schoolwide chronic
absenteeism rate by at least 2 percent.
AS
CIS of Tennessee and CIS of Memphis operate independently of one another, with CIS of Tennessee managing all CIS schools outside of Memphis.
AT
See Appendix D for a list of CIS partner schools.
Telemedicine or telehealth services
Telemedicine or telehealth services also provide
students with access to healthcare at school and
may keep them in attendance for more of the day.
Telemedicine services have grown in popularity
in recent years not only in rural communities with
limited access to hospitals and clinics but also
in schools. Telemedicine services enable school
nurses to consult with a doctor to treat more complex
student health conditions while remaining onsite at
the school.
On OREA surveys, 105 principals (23 percent) and
21 attendance supervisors (20 percent) stated their
schools have telemedicine services available for
students.
TCA 56-7-1002 requires school clinics using such
services to be staed by a healthcare services
provider and held to the same regulations as
traditional medical services.