By Bonita Wilborn
As a means of staying in line with the state and federal accountability standards, so far as discipline and absenteeism are concerned, on Saturday, January 26, 2019 Geraldine High School of the DeKalb County School System held their first session of Saturday School.
According to Geraldine Principal, Jason Mayfield, school officials began going over their options in August while preparing their needs assessment. “We began in August with an attendance incentive program, which helped some, but not enough,” he said. “Saturday School, was an option that was available to us, so after Christmas break, we elected to start it.”
Mayfield explained that the standard operating procedure for the DeKalb County School System’s Attendance Policy is that when a student has the first unexcused absence or unexcused tardy, the parent or guardian receives a written notice. After a second offense during the same semester, a conference is held with the child, the parent/guardian, and the principal. After a third offense, the principal requests assistance from county Attendance Services. Then after a fourth offense the child and a parent/guardian would be referred to the Early Warning Program, which would entail a court appearance and likely court ordered attendance at the DeKalb County Youth Services Center (DYSC) in Rainsville. “We’re trying to keep parents from reaching that point,” he said.
While this is not a unique option to schools in the DeKalb County System, as other schools have enacted similar programs, this particular action received a lot of attention after a notice informing parents of the situation went out on the school messaging system and was then reposted to a Facebook site, where it is reported that the repost received several thousand views.
“We really didn’t intend for it to be this big of a deal,” Mayfield said, “but we just felt that having this at the local school would be more convenient for the students as well as the parents, and would be viewed as a lesser offense than having to attend Alternative School (A-school) or the court ordered program at DYSC.”
While the first session of Saturday School did have a few students who met the criteria for Saturday School due to disciplinary consequences, there were none who met the criteria for absenteeism.
“The program has already been a success,” Mayfield said. “We’ve already seen a decrease in absences and a decrease in tardy instances. In the two weeks since we opted for Saturday School, we’ve had only five tardy cases and all of them fit into the excused category.”
According to Mayfield the school is still in the process of defining all the particulars about Saturday School, but he said, “There will be a good mix of academics, character building, better decision making, and public service activities.”
Saturday School will be in session from 7:00am – 11:00am and parents are required to drop off and pick up their child, as well as sign them in an out. Non-attendance at Saturday School, which is meant to deter absenteeism and general poor decision making, for a student who meets the criteria will eventually result in a placement at the A-School in Rainsville.
DeKalb County Schools Superintendent, Dr. Jason Barnett added, “Saturday School is an option available to us to support our students by keeping them in school, without removing them from the classroom and maybe correct or modify behavior.”