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- Only one clip today. As ever, it is instructive. Shelby City Schools is a tiny district in northern Ohio and, like most others around the state, it is cranking back up for the new school year right now. This story covers two big issues in Shelby (and in many other districts) for the new year: Chronic absenteeism and student cellphone access. Approximately 13 percent of Shelby students were chronically absent last year, a figure that other districts would declare “mission accomplished” if they ever reached. Shelbyites (for surely that is what they are called) are not satisfied and have even hired an outside contractor (no need to Google them; they appear to have no web presence) to provide what they term “a more personal touch in handling attendance issues and data”, including scheduling intervention meetings with families if needed. As to the cellphone issue: “We’re not trying to make it impossible for communication.” High school students can carry their phones all day but are not allowed to use them, except for a roster of exceptions including medical issues, such as if a student uses an app to measure sugar levels, or if a family member is sick. (Mansfield News-Journal, 8/22/24)
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