District forming advisory board to help truant students

Robert Perea, The Fernley Reporter

While chronic absenteeism in Nevada schools dropped significantly in the 2023-24 school year, the numbers went the other way in Lyon County.

New superintendent Tim Logan told the Fernley City Council last month that reducing that number is one of his main goals.

Logan was making his first report to the Fernley City Council since becoming superintendent in June. Following his report, he was asked about the rate of chronic absenteeism within the district.

Prior to last year, Logan said the district’s chronic absenteeism rate was about 36 percent, which matched the state average. But last year, Lyon County’s rate went up to 38.5 percent, while the state rate dropped to about 26 percent. He said Clark County accounted for a big part of that statewide drop, so he has talked to officials there to determine how. Clark County’s chronic absenteeism went from 38 percent in 2022-23 to 31 percent last year.

“It’s a problem, and we need our families to understand the importance of getting their kids at school, and we need to try to figure out different incentives and things to try to get them in,” he said.

Students are considered chronically absent when they miss 10 percent or more of school days.

Logan said in individual cases of truancy, the school resource officers and the assistant principals do house visits, but he said the need is greater than the district can handle with its current resources.

However, as required under a state law approved by the legislature in a special session in 2023, the district is setting up a Student Attendance Advisory Board, which will offer support to families based on student needs.

When students are determined to be habitual truants, they may appear before the SAAB with their parents or guardians before going to court for the attendance infractions.

The board is designed to support students and will issue no consequences. Instead, the board is designed to determine the reasons for a student’s absenteeism and develop a collaborative and supportive plan to address those reasons.

NRS requires the Student Attendance Advisory Board to be comprised of a juvenile probation officer, a representative of a law enforcement agency who works on cases relating to juveniles, a deputy district attorney, a parent or legal guardian of a student in the district, one member of the Board of Trustees, a school counselor or teacher, a deputy sheriff, and a representative of the agency which provides child welfare services.