Positive Attendance Support

Permanent 8.0 hour/day position to begin during the school year.

Medford SD 549C Job Description

Our Mission: ALL Own Their Present and Future, ALL Are Known and Challenged, ALL Achieve Their Potential, ALL Options are Open and Hopeful

Job Title: Positive Attendance Support

Supervisor: Principal and Director

Classification: Classified

FLSA Status: Non Exempt

Days: 193

Summary: The purpose of this position is to provide MSD schools with positive support services and trauma-informed care interventions designed to engage students, families, and school personnel with techniques to improve and maintain regular, on-time attendance. Integral to this process is creating individual action plans to address attendance concerns in a supportive and non-punitive manner. Moreover, this position requires coordination of services and communication with community partners, law enforcement, and other agencies to ensure compliance with all applicable state and federal laws and policies surrounding student attendance, including but not limited to services to Homeless Youth under the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, and coordinated care of youth in foster care, etc.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Ensures students with attendance concerns are identified early to provide applicable positive support services and trauma-informed care interventions.
• Collects, reviews, and identifies district attendance data and addresses factors contributing to chronic absenteeism and/or truancy.
• Work with schools and attendance software vendors to ensure timely and appropriate communications and recordkeeping of correspondence surrounding attendance and attendance expectations.
• Responds to grade level or pupil month patterns of late arrivals, early exits, unknown withdrawals, chronic absenteeism, and/or truancy.
• Consults with building principals and staff to address daily attendance concerns weekly.
• Initiates legal proceedings to enforce compulsory attendance laws; issues failure to attend citations; prepares information for formal hearings/court cases; and represents the Medford School District at court interagency staffing and in the courtroom.
• Coordinates with DHS Child Welfare Case Work on implementing foster care provisions.
• Facilitates the transfer of records and immediate enrollment for foster care and McKinney-Vento-eligible students.
• Maintains confidentiality consistent with FERPA and other privacy protocols.
• Coordinates school district/school of origin transportation for foster care and McKinney-Vento-eligible students.

Intervention/Outreach

• Raises the awareness of students, school personnel, parents/guardians, and community partners about the effects of chronic absenteeism, truancy, and other challenges associated with irregular attendance.
• Make phone calls and emails, do home visits, write letters, schedule attendance meetings, issues citations to families for chronic non-attendance, and or revoke/reinstate student driver's licenses as applicable.
• Provide support services and assistance to families in need (Identity barriers restricting regular student attendance and coordinating services to meet needs including referrals to community partners and agencies, transportation, basic needs such as food, clothing or medical concerns, housing, domestic violence, or other concerns).
• Mentor students to support regular attendance and positive school experiences to improve attendance and reduce dropout rates.

Plan of Action/Coordination of Support Services

• Coordinates communication between students, families, staff, and school personnel.
• Organize meetings when appropriate, establish a plan of action to improve attendance, and identify strengths and areas where additional support is needed.
• Collaborates with school support services when appropriate (Nurse, Family Resource/Homeless Liaison, Student Services, basic need requests, etc.)
• Communicate regularly with community partners and other agencies to be educated on resources and confidentially provide families with needed support (Social Service agencies, First Student, Kids Unlimited, Children's Services, Medford PD, Kids Health Connection, etc.)
• Stay current on applicable state/federal laws and school board policies.
• Continue professional development in Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES), Trauma Informed Care and Practices, Restorative Justice, Conflict Resolution, Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS), and other topics as assigned by the supervisor.

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Provide the School Principal with documentation for law enforcement contact after intervention and support services have been provided if there is no improvement in student attendance or lack of parental participation in support services.
• Create and maintain needed documentation (i.e., letters of concern regarding student attendance, late arrival letters, pre-authorization absence forms, letters of truancy, student-parent-school contracts, brochures-resource information, data tracking, data analysis, etc.) relating to all student attendance issues.
• Incorporate feedback mechanisms that apply to individual cases using follow-up on family referrals (i.e., identify barriers preventing families from obtaining services.)

Marginal Duties and Responsibilities:

• Work with other Positive Attendance Support staff to align K-12 procedures and response protocol.
• Other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• None

Qualifications: An individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below represent the knowledge, skills, and abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Education and/or Experience: Associate's degree (A.A.) or equivalent from a two-year college or technical school or one to two years related experience and/or training or equivalent combination of education and experience. Knowledge of McKinney Vento regulations is preferred.

Interpersonal Skills: Ability to interact appropriately with students, staff, administrators, community members, state/federal/local agencies, members of the community, and students. Focuses on solving conflict resolution and rational judgment while maintaining confidentiality. Contributes to building a positive team environment.

Language Skills: Ability to communicate fluently in English verbally and in writing. Preference may be given to applicants fluent in English and Spanish. Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from vendors, students, parents, or community members. Ability to collect, organize, interpret data and generate reports and correspondence in easy-to-understand formats appropriate for the audience. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence and respond to common inquiries from regulatory agencies and staff.

Mathematical Skills: Ability to process data from multiple sources, calculate percentages and ratios, create figures, graphs, projected trend data, and other representations of numerical data.

Reasoning Ability: Ability to apply common sense understanding to complete instructions furnished in written, oral or diagram form. Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.

Computer Skills: To perform this job successfully, an individual should be proficient with database software, internet software, and email.

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations: Certificates as determined by the District, including a valid Oregon driver's license.

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here represent those that an employee must meet to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear and use hands for fine manipulation, handle or feel and reach with hands and arms. The employee is frequently required to walk or sit; often stand, stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment: The work environment characteristics described here represent those employees may encounter while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.

The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate.

Note: This is not necessarily an exhaustive or all-inclusive list of responsibilities, skills, duties, requirements, efforts, functions, or working conditions associated with the job. This job description is not a contract of employment or a promise or guarantee of any specific terms or conditions of employment. The school district may add to, modify or delete any aspect of this job (or the position itself) whenever it deems advisable.