Lorain School Board mulls attendance numbers, cellphone policy

LORAIN — Lorain Schools hopes to bolster student attendance this school year. During its board of education meeting on Monday, Bill Ohle, executive director of elementary teaching and learning, and Melissa DeAngelis, executive director of data and testing, updated attendees on the district's efforts to reduce its chronic absenteeism rate and get students in school all day, every day. Lorain Schools saw some gains on its most recent state report card, DeAngelis said, including a bump in its overall attendance from 81.2 percent for the 2023-24 school year, to 82.3 percent for the 2024-25 school year. Its chronic absenteeism rate also dropped by a percentage point, down to 59 percent, over the same time period. Chronic absenteeism measures the number of students who miss more than 10 percent — or about 18 days of class — within a school year. Of the district's 14 buildings and Success Academy, 10 saw attendance improvements from the 2023-24 school year to the 2024-25 year, and 11 saw a decrease in chronic absenteeism over the same timespan. Even with the improvements, all of the district's buildings saw an attendance rate below 90 percent, and a chronic absenteeism rate near or above 50 percent last school year. The building with the best attendance rate was Hawthorne Elementary School, at 89 percent, while Helen Steiner Rice Elementary had the lowest chronic absenteeism rate, at 46.1 percent. Success Academy had the lowest attendance rate, at 63.5 percent, and the highest chronic absenteeism rate, at 87.9 percent last school year. Success Academy, while housed in Lorain High School, is considered a separate building by the state's metrics. It serves high school students with academic, behavioral and social-emotional learning needs. It offers credit recovery programs like Apex Learning to allow students to complete missed coursework or credits toward graduation. Ohle said Lorain Schools is still in the Cleveland Browns' Stay in the Game attendance network, and recently launched additional incentives like the Titan Attendance Challenge to encourage students to come to class on time. Assistant Superintendent Michael Scott said student advisory groups tell district administrators what would make school better for students, and an attention to data helps make sure no child falls through the cracks. Cellphone policy Board members also discussed a potential cellphone policy for the elected officials to prevent them from scrolling their phones or other electronic devices during meetings. The district has a cellphone policy in place for its students and staff, board Vice President Barbie Washington said when discussing the potential change, and noted City Council members have come under fire for texting or using their phones during public meetings. Board member Mark Ballard and President Jay Ferguson pushed back on Washington's policy, which came at the suggestion of Neola, a policy service provider for more than 500 Ohio schools, including Lorain. Ballard questioned the need for a policy to govern a "group of leaders," which Ferguson agreed with. District attorney Anthony Giardini said unlike a student cellphone policy, there is no state law requiring the district to adopt a policy for its board members and their cellphones, but noted texts sent during public meetings could constitute the creation of a public record. The policy change did not pass. Voting in favor were Washington and Courtney Nazario, against were Ferguson, Ballard and Bill Sturgill. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.