At their February board meeting on Monday, the Southwest Open School board included discussions about attendance, the new building and a grant.
SWOS Director Casey Simpson informed the board that attendance is at 81.9%, down slightly after Christmas break, which they attributed partially to students who have caught the flu or other sickness as the cold weather continues in the area.
To help ensure students continue showing up to school, specifically students in the judicial system, the school’s engagement coordinator has been engaged and working with students and parents on attendance, with ESS focused primarily on seniors.
Simpson noted there have been some struggles with some of the students in the judicial system.
Simpson also spoke of the school’s suicide protocol, which he said has had a 100% success rate so far, something the board celebrated.
They also spoke of a grant that was awarded, allowing the school to pay their academic interventionist for three years. According to documents presented by Simpson, habitually disruptive students can have the most taxing behaviors on schools, and he shared that work was being done to help deal with disruptive students to create a better working and learning environment for students and teachers.
With the cold weather and snowy days, the board discussed how it is difficult for about 20% of their students to get to school, specifically addressing students who skateboard to school but can’t in the snow.
Simpson also presented updates to the school’s 2024-2025 academic calendar, pointing out that there weren’t many changes from the 2023-2024 calendar.
He gave an update on the building, which was declared ready to house students and teachers the first week of February.
While the building is being occupied by students and passed inspection, Simpson shared that there a few last-minute finishing touches being completed, including some aspects of the culinary portion of the building.
The culinary arts part of the building includes six cooking tables and ovens and will soon have extra cupboards and a few other items to finish the final details.
Simpson said that these updates should be finished soon.
