Panther Valley School District is planning an EPIC school year as classes begin Monday.

EPIC, which stands for “Every Panther is Connected,” is the school year’s theme and an initiative to increase student attendance, development and success as part of each school’s improvement plan.

“When students feel connected to their school, they are more likely to attend school and succeed,” Robert Palazzo, director of curriculum design, told school board members Wednesday night.

The district will also work on “explicit instruction,” a focused approach to teaching that gets children away from their computers and gives them the opportunity to focus on practicing skills like reading and math, he said.

The district set an annual goal of increasing reading and math proficiency in each building by six months, which Palazzo called an “ambitious goal.”

“We would like to see average growth over a year, but we start with six months of growth and report on it every quarter,” he said.

Students will spend 10 minutes each Wednesday taking an online assessment in reading and math that will allow teachers and school administrators to track their progress, Palazzo said.

The district also worked with its technology coordinator, Janet Fisher, to ensure accurate daily enrollment numbers and to automatically add or remove students within one day of enrollment or withdrawal, Palazzo said.

“It’s real-time data that we can look at at any time to see how our students are doing,” Palazzo said.

Absences

Board member Renee DeMelfi asked specifically about chronic absenteeism, which is a problem in many school districts, not just Panther Valley.

“What measures will you take to get the children into school?” she asked.

Patricia Ebbert, middle and high school principal, said it goes back to the EPIC theme and the children’s sense of connection.

One of the things they learned in their safety training was that children who had committed school shootings wrote that they never felt connected to anyone at school, Ebbert said.

“We are committed to making that connection this year,” she said.

Middle and high school students are asked to complete surveys that ask them if there is a teacher or staff member inside the building that they feel a connection to, or if there is someone outside of school that they feel a connection to.

“These outsiders, these kids who say, ‘I don’t have anyone,’ are the kids we need to reach out to right away,” Ebbert said. “We need to build those connections with those kids.”

The district will also focus on positive reinforcement rather than negative or punitive approaches.

“We reward the kids,” Ebbert said. “If they have perfect attendance for two or three weeks, they get the opportunity to be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a free ticket to the football or volleyball game or a free homework pass.”

They will focus on things that build connections and strengthen their desire to go to school, Ebbert said.

“They will come if they feel they have a connection,” she said. “So we have to try to make that connection.”

Lisa Mace, middle school principal, said the district will not conduct surveys with the younger children but will talk to them about their interests and pair them with other students to build their social skills.

“Our children are really struggling with this,” she said.

Through a recent training, the district also learned about an early warning system available in Sapphire, the community portal the district uses, and purchased that component, Mace said.

“We have parameters set (for the entire district) that take into account our students, grades, attendance and discipline, and we weight discipline so that chewing gum, for example, counts a little less than maybe vaping,” she said.

All three principals will run those reports every Monday and identify students who are at low, moderate or high risk for those factors, as well as identify trends and provide targeted support services that students may need, she said.

DeMelfi asked about the reasons for chronic absenteeism last school year. The district performed poorly in this area compared to other districts.

The reasons for this are varied and include, but are not limited to: attitudes towards keeping children at home due to the pandemic, students not completing online assignments, a lower priority on school and school attendance, and other extenuating circumstances.

Palazzo said both legal and illegal absences would be considered to the district’s detriment.

“If you’re in the hospital for 15 days, you’re chronically absent,” he told the board about the reporting.

Last year, 158 students in the district were absent for 19 or more school days, and 69 of those, or 44%, were legal absences.

Palazzo said, “44% of these parents did what they were supposed to do. But that’s a disadvantage for us and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Following the discussion, the board approved plans for additional targeted support and improvements for each of the district’s three schools individually.

Robert Palazzo, Panther Valley’s curriculum director, introduced this year’s district theme: EPIC, which stands for “Every Panther is Connected,” an initiative to improve attendance, growth and success as part of the district’s improvement plan. KELLY MONITZ SOCHA/TIMES NEWS