Monday, United Way is hosting an Education Summit to help tackle chronic absenteeism among school children

Event: Education Summit on Tackling Chronic Absenteeism

When: Monday, April 22, 2019

Where: Holiday Inn Wichita, 549 S. Rock Road

Program:

8:30 – 10 a.m. Keynote: “Truancy: The Bitter Root of Rejection” – Speaker: Lorri Hobson, Attendance Works Senior Fellow and Director of Attendance for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Hobson developed the Cleveland district’s first citywide attendance campaign which reduced chronic absenteeism from 44% to 28% in one year.

10:15 – 11:45 a.m. Breakout Sessions:
• Option #1: “Attendance Data: A Local Perspective” – Dr. Lisa Lutz, Executive Director, Innovation & Evaluation, USD 259 – Wichita Public Schools
• Option #2: “8 to Great” – Patty Stuever, Student Leadership Coordinator and 8 to Great Certified Power Coach, USD 259 – Wichita Public Schools

12 – 1 p.m. Lunch Plenary: “Impact of School Attendance on Grade Level Reading” – Andrew Hysell, Executive Director, Kansas Reading Roadmap – Kansas Campaign for Grade Level Reading

1:15 – 2:45 p.m. General Session #1: “Creating Conditions for Learning” – Lorri Hobson (see keynote speaker above)

3 – 4:30 p.m. General Session #2: “Building Resilience to Adverse Childhood Experiences as a Strategy to Increase School Attendance” – Vicky Roper, Prevent Child Abuse Kansas Director and Director, Education and Awareness, Kansas Children’s Service League

Background:
This Education Summit will cover the importance of school attendance, how absenteeism affects academic success and the barriers to school attendance. The Summit will be attended by area educators, community leaders and others. This will be United Way of the Plains’ second Education Summit on school attendance as part of its “Be There” initiative launched in 2015. The initiative aims to improve school attendance in order to improve student achievement. Students who are chronically absent–missing 10 percent or more of school days–are more likely to have difficulty reading at grade level by third grade and are more likely to drop out. In addition to this Education Summit, United Way funds an intervention program in six elementary schools. The summit is funded by the Tom Docking Memorial Fund.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Delane Butler, Vice President of Marketing, United Way of the Plains, (316) 267-1321, Ext. 4105, dbutler@unitedwayplains.org