“We’ve always had some issues with chronic absenteeism,” said Kirsten Doebel, director of secondary education services for the district. “And after the pandemic, we’ve seen that grow.”

According to Doebel, the federal definition of “chronic absences” is missing more than 10 percent of the school year due to any absence — excused, unexcused, illness and suspensions. For the Fort Dodge district, which has a 180-day school year, that adds up to 18 absences a year.

Students from all grade levels have issues with chronic absences, she said. At the elementary level, about 6-8 percent of students are chronically absent. At the middle school level, that number is just under 10 percent and at the high school level it’s just under 15 percent.

To help identify the root causes of students being chronically absent from school and to find solutions, the district is investing $15,155.60 with Attendance Works, a consulting agency, to come in and work with a leadership team to improve attendance.

The FDCSD Board of Education approved the agreement with San Francisco-based Attendance Works during its meeting on Monday night.

“We decided we really need to have a focus on this,” Doebel said.

A district-wide leadership team — with all buildings and levels represented — will be created to work with Attendance Works.

“They will spend the year looking at data, setting goals, working with Attendance Works with our data specifically,” Doebel said. “They’ll be trying to get to the root causes and work with them to help us figure out what are the best next steps that we can take to try to reduce our numbers of chronic absenteeism.”

She noted that there are a “multitude” of reasons students may miss school, and it’s not necessarily just kids skipping school.

“We just need to be part of the solution of how do we start to address root causes so that we can work together with families to get the kids in the door so that we can work on getting the education and other skills they need,” Doebel said.

Currently, the district has an early warning system of behavior support teams, administrators and counselors who are regularly and continuously looking at different data points that identify students who are at risk. But the current process doesn’t approach chronic absenteeism with any systemic level, she said.

“We are always attempting to find ways to partner with the families in our community to overcome barriers,” Doebel said. “We do a lot of great things at school, but none of those things matter if we can’t get the kid to school.”