USD 428 Great Bend found out many high school dropout problems started with students not attending classes. Missing school gets the student behind, grades start to slip, and occasionally the teenager stops coming to class altogether. The Great Bend High School had 31 students drop out of school for various reasons in 2016. The high number of dropouts was quickly handcuffed to low attendance.

In order to combat the issue, the district added a classified position with an attendance coordinator this school year. Karla Martinez has filled the new position after spending over four years in child welfare, seeing many student truancy cases along the way.

Karla Martinez Audio

Martinez says many absent cases deal with students working the night before and not wanting to wake up in time for class, having to work to support their families, or a parent issue. It’s Martinez’s job to figure out the reasons why the child is not coming to school and find ways alleviate the barriers.

Alana Blessing is a family support worker at Park Elementary School in Great Bend, and says her task force tries to emphasize the importance of attendance at a young age.

Alana Blessing Audio

Kansas state statute says when a student has seven unexcused absences in a semester then the student is truant. Once truant, the school district has the ability to file a letter with the Barton County Attorney’s Office in an attempt to take stronger actions to improve the student’s attendance. Martinez says in extreme cases, the court can remove the child from the home if the absences continue.