PARTNERING WITH YOUR CLUSTER SUPPORT TEAM

THE DEPARTMENT OF SUPPORT SERVICES

Our Vision is to help students achieve academic success in a safe and nurturing environment that maximizes their educational potential and opportunities.

The Mission of the Support Services Department is to provide direct services to students, families, and schools in an attempt to improve academic achievement, daily attendance and behavior through the use of programs and practices that support the socio-emotional learning needs of students.

WHAT IS A CLUSTER SUPPORT TEAM

The Cluster Support Team (CST) is comprised of professionals from the Department of Support Services who serve each of our 12 clusters. Every MNPS zoned school is served by a CST.

CST members:• Truancy Intervention Specialists• School Social Workers (Clinical Therapist)• Behavior Analysts/Specialists• Family Involvement Specialist

TRUANCY INTERVENTION SPECIALIST (FORMERLY KNOWN AS TRUANCY

SPECIALIST)Truancy Specialists are responsible for monitoring attendance. They are tasked with much of the compliance requirements for attendance dictated by the Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA). They must make sure parents/guardians of truant students are notified of the Compulsory Attendance Law and that their child is not in violation of the law. The Truancy Specialists are responsible for investigating any truancy referrals and filing all petitions with Juvenile Court as needed. The Truancy Specialists work directly with the Court Liaison to ensure the petitions are accurate and credible.

SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERSSchool Social Workers provide multiple levels of service to students, school staff, and families in an effort to eliminate non-academic barriers to student success both academic and non-academic: • Assesses the student and determines the intervention required. • Provide the intervention or refer the student to another provider for intervention. • Provide counseling individually and in groups. • Consult with teachers and administrators• Conference with parents and students, • Work with parents and students in crisis• Assist students in our H.E.R.O. program with obtaining basic needs• Assist students in obtaining medical care • Assist administrators and teachers with student behavior, and various other needs.

FAMILY INVOLVEMENT SPECIALISTThe Family Involvement Specialist (FIS) is a position that identifies parent, family, and student needs by working with families and schools. They provide trainings to families on a wide range of topics, and assist schools in providing opportunities to engage families to support students. They also offer professional development to school staff on partnering with parents. The FIS also work closely with the Cluster Support Team to address family and school needs through parent engagement, securing community partners, connecting to the Faith Based Community, building relationships with non-profit organizations, and government agencies. The Family Involvement Specialist supports the Cluster Team designing and offering events and programming to support the unique needs of each school community.

BEHAVIOR SPECIALISTThe Behavior Support Team (BST) provides a range of consultative and professional development services aimed at building capacity in schools to improve student behavior and achievement. They provide consultation on primary and secondary interventions in addition to the development of effective FBAs, BIPs as third tier interventions. Safety Plans are available upon request. Professional development is offered on the following topics:

•Functional Behavior Assessment •Part I: Overview of FBA/BIP I Forms & Procedures, Data Collection•Part II: Practicing FBAs, Overview of BIP Phase II Forms and Procedures, Safety Plans•De-Escalation Strategies•The Support Team Process•The Essential 8 of Classroom Management•Beyond Classroom Management•Behavior Intervention Strategies•Data Collection in the Classroom

REFERRAL PROCESS

School Counselor will receive referral and review to determine

next steps.

Direct email referral to CST member or Community Based Health Provider, while copying

the Support Services Intake Coordinator on the email. *Behavior Support Team

Email referrals to Jessica Sellers, copying the Intake Coordinator

Interventionist will attempt to contact school referral source. Ex.

Teacher

Interventionist solicits support

All Interventionists attend follow -up bi-weekly meeting led by the

School Counselor to discuss outcomes

Interventionists will evaluate effectiveness of services to

determine if student needs to be referred to a lower, lateral or higher tiered intervention

THE VALUE OF WORKING WITH YOUR CST

• They provide direct support services to students and their families.• They provide support to school administrators when dealing with

difficult situations.• They enforce compulsory attendance law.• They use non-instructional data to identify students that need additional

support.• They can provide you with information and training that can assist you

and your team• They are the link to community resources and support

SUPPORT AND INTERVENTION MEETINGS

Monthly meeting between CST, School Administration, counselors, and possibly other school staff and community health providers.

In S & I meetings we discuss:• Students with critical needs• Students with attendance issues• Students who have or need Social Work referrals• Students who are struggling academically

Plans are created to provide supportive services to identified students.

UNPACKING ATTENDANCE TERMSAverage Dail

y Attendan

ce

• The percentage of enrolled students who attend school each day. It is often used for allocating funding.

Truancy

• Refers only to unexcused absences. In Tennessee, a student is considered truant at 5 unexcused absences. It signals the potential need for legal intervention under state compulsory education laws.

Chronic

Absence

• Missing 10% or more of school for any reason – excused, unexcused, suspension, etc. It is an indication that a student is academically at risk due to missing too much school.

FACTORS THAT IMPACT STUDENT ATTENDANCE AND PERFORMANCE

Home and Community

• Family Health and Finances

• Abuse and Neglect

• Adolescent stress due to violence at home and in the community

• Parental alcohol and drug abuse

• Negative role models

• Parents who lack a formal education or does not value education for their child/children

• Homelessness

FACTORS THAT IMPACT STUDENT ATTENDANCE AND PERFORMANCE

Personal Factors

• A history of poor performance• Special education services (documented and

undocumented)• Unmet mental health needs• Alcohol and drug use• Negative peer pressure• Lack of parental support• Lack of vision or plan to achieve personal goals

SATISFACTORY ATTENDANCE IS THE KEY….KIDS CAN’T LEARN IF THEY AREN’T IN SCHOOL.Components of Effective Absence Reduction Programs:• Parent/whole family involvement/engagement• A continuum of services (incentives and consequences)• Collaboration between school and community

stakeholders (law enforcement, social services, mentors, case managers)

• Concrete and measurable goals with on-going progress monitoring

ATTENDANCE PROCESSPRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Designate one individual (Attendance Lead) to be responsible for all school level attendance efforts and accountable for ensuring attendance data accuracy. This individual will be the point of contact for cluster support team members and central office personnel.

2. Ensure the un-submitted report from the end of the day is reviewed, document and contact teachers remaining in non-compliance.

3. Assign school staff to make corrections to student contact and address information received from teachers, cluster support team members, and other district personnel. (If school zone has changed, refer to Enrollment Center.)

4. Designate school staff to participate in school level attendance team for the purpose of investigating and creating attendance interventions for truant and/or chronically absent students.

ATTENDANCE PROCESSPRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES CONTINUED

5. Ensure school level interventions are assigned for students with 1 to 6 unexcused absences.

6. Accurate documentation of all interventions completed in PowerSchool SMS.

7. Ensure the state mandated 5 day letter is sent to parents and documented on Support and Intervention page in PowerSchool SMS.

8. During Support & Intervention Meetings, refer students with more than 6 unexcused absences to the Cluster Support Team. with

ATTENDANCE PROCESSDAILY ATTENDANCE

1. Each teacher will take and submit attendance in PowerSchool SMS for every class, every day and on time.

2. Assigned school staff will…. Submit attendance for teachers not available for taking attendance

during each period of the day Run the un-submitted attendance report and remind teachers that

attendance has not been submitted. The submitted attendance date time stamp report should also be pulled to determine if teachers have submitted attendance for the entire day first thing in the morning.

Generate an Absentee Report and provide to teachers.

 

ATTENDANCE PROCESS CONTINUEDDAILY ATTENDANCE

3. Teachers will report discrepancies with the Absentee Report to assigned school staff via email or phone.

4. Assigned school staff will be responsible for maintaining the Attendance Log Notebook. A three (3) ring binder where all attendance reports will be stored for review and auditing by the Data Quality and Information Management and Decision Support Department. These audits will be conducted randomly throughout the year with results being reported as needed back to District Staff.

*Please refer to Standards of Practice for full attendance details.*

ATTENDANCE PROCESS CONTINUEDDAILY ATTENDANCE

5. Assigned school staff will generate an un-submitted attendance report to be reviewed and signed by the Principal/Attendance Lead at the end of each day and place the results in the Attendance Log. They will also place the daily reconciled Tardy and Dismissal sheets in the Attendance Log Notebook behind that day’s unsubmitted attendance report.

6. Principal will review the un-submitted report from the end of the day, document and contact teachers for conference or other administrative actions.