Mt. Pleasant summer school sees record-high attendance

Summer school this year in the Mt. Pleasant Community School District was the most successful teachers have ever seen.

With high enrollment and attendance numbers, Lincoln Elementary School Principal and summer school instructor Lori LaFrenz attributed their success to adding kindergarten to the mix and incorporating physical activity into each day.

'Attendance was huge,” LaFrenz said during a Mt. Pleasant Community School District board meeting on Monday, Oct. 8. 'You can't teach them if you can't get them there.”

In 2018, 74 students attended summer school as opposed to the only 37 who attended in 2017. Additionally, in 2018 20 students had perfect attendance compared to only eight students who had perfect attendance in 2017.

LaFrenz said transportation is the biggest issue in getting students to attend summer school. She believes that if the district were to offer door-to-door transportation, they would see better attendance numbers, adding it isn't something the district can afford to do.

Another factor in students not attending summer school is valuing education. Some students simply don't want to attend so strongly that their parents relent and don't take them. Yet another hurdle in getting students through the door to summer school is students may be living out of the school district during the summer.

Summer school is not a requirement for any student, merely a recommendation by a teacher. There is no cost to parents to send their student to summer school.

Overall, however, LaFrenz said teachers are seeing the summer loss gap decrease for students who attended summer school this year. Students who struggle in school return with summer loss they never make up and continue to fall further behind their peers.

'One thing we really strive for in summer school is not so much closing the gap … when we limit that loss, we can make that next year of learning mean something,” LaFrenz said.

In other news, the MPCSD's 2019 legislative priorities, which they approved last month, look similar to the Iowa Association of School Boards legislative priorities.

'Our priorities as a district are not dissimilar to what people across the state felt were important also,” District superintendent John Henriksen said.

The IASB 2019 legislative priorities include:

• Support for efforts to establish comprehensive community mental health systems for preventive services and access for students to mental health professionals.

• Support for a school funding policy that provides funding to meet education goals.

• Support for the repeal of the Dec. 31, 2029, sunset on the statewide penny sales tax for school infrastructure.

The next MPCSD school board meeting is Monday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m.