What started as a focus on decreasing chronic absenteeism among students, increasing literacy initiatives that involved families, and a long-term look at how to undo the distancing between schools and their families caused by COVID-19 precautions, turned into a slew of wonderful traditions that will help build stronger connections with families for years to come at Cushing Community School.

It was the teachers and staff members who came up with the idea to supplement their family engagement strategies with a Family Appreciation Week this fall, an approach that was slightly different than what they had tried before. Knowing how hectic life can be for students and their families during the school year, Cushing Community School Principal Dawn Jones explained that her staff worked as a team to make the week less about the school asking families to do something and more about the school doing something for their families.

On Monday families were invited to stick around at drop-off to get a coffee and have a pastry with school staff. While the students went inside to start their day, this was a time for the adults to connect. “It was so good, we really want to do it again,” said Jones.

For Tuesday the school asked students to make something to thank their parents for helping them as learners and sent them home in backpacks.

Wednesday was a special treat as families were invited to join their students for lunch. Keeping it simple, the school said to bring a lunch and “just eat with us.”

“When the kids are in high school and thinking back on this, they are going to say, ‘Remember when our parents came for lunch?’,” remarked 3^rd Grade Teacher Nicole McLellan.

“It was really fun,” added Jones.

Thursday was a math night where families were invited to the school for math games and sent home with goodie bags with lots of fun math ideas to do at home.

“I thought it was great to engage with parents and not just in an academic setting. We could have conversations about other things. This can help if you have something challenging to talk about later on,” said Cushing Community School Teacher Janelle Poland.

KODAK Digital Still Camera

On Friday the school hosted a raffle in which families were invited to participate in throughout the week with a family game as the big prize.

“It launched us into a year of family engagement allowing us to continue to build those really important relationships with families,” said Jones.

Cushing Community School has continued to ramp up their family engagement strategies in other ways this year as well by hosting a Fall Family Fun Night which entailed a flashlight walk-along through their outdoor story path and ended in the school’s outdoor classroom with hot cocoa for everyone. Also in the works is a family sing-along during the upcoming holiday concert.

This story was written as a collaboration between Cushing Community School and the Maine Department of Education’s Office of School and Student Support. If you are interested in sharing your school’s successful family engagement strategies through the Maine DOE Newsroom, fill out this good news submission form or contact rachel.paling@maine.gov. To inquire about more resources on family engagement from the Maine DOE, please contact Melanie Junkins at melanie.junkins@maine.gov. 

As student absenteeism became a persistent issue at Meroby Elementary School, three school leaders worked together in a successful effort that decreased the school’s chronically absent rate by more than 40% over the course of a school year.

Jodi Ellis, Hillary Cayer, and Nicole Pinkham – who serve as the school’s principal, social worker, and school nurse respectively – knew they needed to address student absenteeism during the 2022-2023 school year, as the previous year’s chronically absent rate was over 70%. In October, the team of three took the lead in creating a strategic plan to improve attendance.

The first significant change that took place was shifting the responsibility of absenteeism to Ellis, Cayer, and Pinkham who were ready, and had the capacity to take it on. Previously, absenteeism was the responsibility of the school’s leadership team Pinto Collaborative which had too much on their plates and the shift provided a better balance for everyone.

“I then started asking teachers to make phone calls to families when a student had been absent for three days, and to report back to Hillary, Nicole, and I about the outcomes of that conversation.  When the student was absent for 5 days, Hillary, Nicole, and I would make the phone call and start conversations about what we could do to help the family with getting the student to school.  At 7 days absent, we would request an in-person meeting to talk about solutions.  We would then continue to monitor student attendance and continue to have follow-up conversations with families,” explained Ellis.

While Ellis, Cayer, and Pinkham worked directly with teachers and families to monitor and address individual cases of absenteeism, the Pinto Collaborative created numerous family engagement nights. These events included an ice cream social, a fall festival, and STEAM night.

“Not only do we invite families to these events,” says Ellis, “but we also invite local businesses [and] organizations to set up booths that families can visit to see what resources are available in the community.” These family engagement opportunities aim to make families feel more supported and welcomed by the school and school community, thus encouraging student attendance.

Here are a few photos from some of Meroby’s family fun nights:

Through attention to individual absences and increased opportunities for family engagement, the chronically absent rate at Meroby Elementary decreased to below 30% this past school year – a success made possible by the leadership and hard work of Ellis, Cayer, and Pinkham and the involvement and support of school and community members.

Looking toward the upcoming school year, the team hopes to keep the momentum going. “Our goal is to decrease our chronically absent rate by an additional 10% this year,” says Ellis. To do so, they plan on continuing their work from last year while providing even more family engagement opportunities and levels of support for students and families.

Ellis would like to thank the following community partners for their support in increasing student attendance at Meroby: Team Long Run/Friends of the River Valley, Mexico Public Library, Rumford Public Library, The Fitch Company, Mexico Fire Department, Mexico and Rumford Police Department, Rumford Hospital, Oxford Federal Credit Union, and Hope Association.