Residents who braved the threat of a winter storm to attend the Glen Cove Board of Education meeting of Monday, Dec.5 were introduced to one of the district's newest employees, Tracy Worthy, attendance teacher. Two of the three members of Ms. Worthy's staff were also in attendance, and the one who wasn't had sent a note from home.

Ms. Worthy described her position - "to ensure the maintenance of an adequate record verifying the attendance of all children at instruction in accordance with Education Law, Section 3205." In laymen's terms, Ms. Worthy is entrusted to provide better control of attendance and data associated with students for state reporting purposes. Ms. Worthy is working in the high school, as it is the most difficult population to monitor for many reasons. There are nearly 1,000 students, meaning there are nearly 1,000 schedules, and each student has any number of classes with any number of teachers. There has never been an official attendance teacher in the school, and Ms. Worthy promises to bring some never-before researched data to the head of the class.

She stated that there are currently processes in place to verify a student's attendance, not just in the morning as she or he begins school, but throughout the day, and to have missed classes reported. "We contact a parent within 24 to 48 hours if a student does not come to school (and the school is not notified) or if he or she misses a class during the day." Board member Janet Bates-Wilkins remarked that she has already received a call from the attendance office on a day she took her child out of school for a doctor's appointment, and praised the efficiency with which Ms. Worthy and her staff are doing their jobs.

Other job components will determine the school's average daily attendance for state aid purposes; verify compliance with compulsory education laws; identify attendance patterns to design improvement efforts; close gaps in student performance and increase school completion. Ms. Worthy pointed out that research indicates a high positive correlation between attendance and achievement; poor attendance and dropping out; school climate and attendance and school climate and achievement.

The office will also verify students moving in or returning to Glen Cove, or changing addresses within the city, students moved from active to inactive status, students dropped from the active attendance register as well as identifying nonresidents.

On Sept. 19, 994 students were registered at the high school. As of Dec. 1, the number was 908. Those 90 nonstudents removed from the rolls may be just the start. The office of Dr. Shari Cahmi is working with a computer service to handle data duplications of registered students. Often a student gets registered once with a first and last name, and again with a middle initial. In many cultures, Superintendent Larry Aronstein pointed out, children use their mother's maiden name as a middle name, causing even more confusion. In addition to tax rolls carrying non-existent students, when testing time comes, and a requirement for the school to pass is that 95 percent of students are tested, it's impossible to test that percentage of the total enrollment, when it is not an accurate figure.

The program will not show significance this school year, as "once the wheels are in motion, we are pretty much set for the year," said Dr. Aronstein. However, in two months or so, the district will begin re-registering every student, and before the school year is out, should have a definitive number on school enrollment. Dr. Aronstein believes this efficient program will have significant positive implications on staffing, and therefore on the budget, for the next school year.

In regular business, the board voted to approve the establishment of a Greek Club in the high school. OPA!

The next regular board of education meeting will be held Monday, Dec. 19, 7:30 p.m. at Gribbin School.