After Hours School Attendance Hotline meant to help resolve absenteeism

West Shore School News is a presentation of West Shore Educational Service District in partnership with Mason County Press.

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

AMBER TOWNSHIP — The West Shore Educational Service District, in partnership with area school districts, have created an After Hours School Attendance Hotline to help with school attendance concerns.

The hotline is part of the regional Showing Up is Job 1 attendance initiative.

“The hotline is intended for students, parents or caregivers to talk about attendance concerns and to offer resources to help with those concerns,” said West Shore ESD Superintendent Jason Jeffrey.

During school hours, the concerns should be discussed with a school administrator or counselor, Jeffrey said. But, sometimes parents/caregivers aren’t available to speak to someone because of jobs or other commitments.

“We just want to listen and help if we can,” Jeffrey said. “If regular school hours don’t work for someone who wants to talk about an attendance concern, we want to be there for them in the evenings, too.”

Showing Up is Job 1 was developed by the West Shore Educational Service District Regional Superintendents’ Association, which consists of the public school superintendents of school districts in Mason, Oceana and Lake counties.

Its purpose is to encourage attendance at school.

“Attendance matters,” said Jeffrey. “Student engagement may be the most important prerequisite to student learning. Attendance is an area of challenge for schools across our region, the state and nation.

“If you asked me to identify one strategy that has the potential to move the needle and reduce chronic absenteeism, I would say its ensuring that every student has a relationship with one caring adult at school who purposefully encourages the student to attend and thoughtfully works with the student to eliminate barriers to coming to school.

“Encouraging students to come to school is important. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, while educator effectiveness is a significant factor for student success, excessive absenteeism reduces even the best educators ability to impact student learning.”

Jeffery said chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10 percent or more of the school year for any reason, which equates to students missing two or more days per month.

The hotline is just another way to help solve absenteeism problems, Jeffrey said. The person answering the phone will listen to concerns and either help with possible solutions or refer the concerned party to someone else who can help.

The number is (231) 846-7999 and will be answered between the hours of 7-9 p.m., Sunday through Thursday. Texts will also be accepted.

Click here to learn more.

______________

Please Support Local News

Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news. 

The easiest way is to sign up for an automatic monthly payment on Paypal. Click this link.

Alternative methods:

• We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).

We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.

If you would like to support MCP/OCP but do not wish to receive daily emails, please consider sending a contribution to any of the above methods or pay by Venmo (@masoncountypress).

_____

This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2024, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.

As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.

Please consider helping to fund local news. Mason County Press and Oceana County Press are available for free thanks to the generous support of our advertisers and individuals. Three ways to help us: Venmo: @MasonCountyPress; Paypal: MasonCountyPress@gmail.com; Mail a check to PO BOX 21, Scottville, MI 49454.

fb.com/stars