usually not a um paper and stick to a script kind of person, but I don't know what it is. Like all of a sudden 10 minutes before this got started to begin, I like nervous. Like seriously nervous. So I'm going to hold my fingers. I'm going have my clickers and I'm going to say thank you for coming to our first state of the district summit. Um we're also live streaming portions. We are Okay, great. And so this is for the Ammeris column, the Amoris column regional school district. And I want to talk about where this came from in terms of our mindset. Um, and so I have been having data chat since I arrived. The schools came in last year and did data chats around um attendance and what's been happening and and what kind what does it look like for the different levels. And then this year I had departmental data chats where I had the different departments um come in and present the data from data.
And please remain standing if you are able for the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem. Amen. >> You're right here. You're right here. >> Dr. Theale, members of the Board of Education, faculty and staff, parents, families, and friends, the time is now. Welcome to our graduation commencement ceremony for the Downers Grove North High School class of 2026. My name is Courtney Dement and I have the honor and privilege of being the principal here at North High School. Today's ceremony is part of a very rich history as we gather on this beautiful day to celebrate the graduation of the 98th class from North High School and the 148th in the history of Downers Grove High Schools.
Please let her know I did really well. So absenteeism is very important. Attendance not absentism absenteeism is important for us to study but attendance is important. If they are not here we cannot support. If a child is not present, we cannot support them. Um and so one of the things that we track um principles will tell you weekly they get a chart from Marta with some sometimes it feels like daily. Um this is the percentage you're supposed to be at. You are not here like like you are you are supposed to be at 90% or 80% and your school came up at six at 60% tip this week. Marta sends the numbers every week to the principles and engages in this conversation or attendance. And so chronic absenteeism means that a child has missed at least 10% of a school year, right? And attendance works would talk about those 18 days.
And in the last data chat, I believe it was the English learners and um ELA data chat. Not the last but one of the last I sat down. I was like, you know, the the community keeps asking from different lens different questions. I get questions in the school committee at different points where I present at four towns the towns are asking how are kids doing what what does it look like when I sit with the caucus groups I'm ask different questions when I'm sitting with them we have different questions and I was like it's kind of time for us to bring all the stakeholders in a room present the data kind of like how I look at it or it's presented to me through the lens of the different departments and everyone else because in that room when HR is presenting CN um our curriculum team is there, our family team is there.
To begin our ceremony, senior Helen Justice will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. While at North, Helen has been involved in DECA, track and field, cross country, empowerment club, North Star Leaders, and Investment Club. Helen will attend the University of Virginia in the fall. Please welcome Helen Justice.
18 days is very significant in 180 days. Again, if they are not here, you cannot support them. I'm not saying teach them. I'm saying support them. Because in our holistic view in our system, it's not just about the academic performance. There are other long-term implications that are missed. They also don't get to engage with our great guidance counselors. They don't get to engage with their peers. They don't get to sit in a safe space or a space and say, "Hey, I'm having a hard day." and work through strategies with a teacher, with a friend or you know with a adult they've identified as safe. So we talk about then not just intern absenteeism but looking at students who are absent and the more that those numbers increase the more likely they are to drop out of school. The more likely they are to drop out of school because of the loss that they've experienced by not being present.
So they're hearing all of the information and it's like we're asking questions from the different perspectives and I wanted to provide you as our key stakeholders as caregivers, committee members, PGOs's, community groups, leaders the same opportunity to walk through data with us and kind of engage in that conversation. So today is called the summit and research talks about coherent systems and how powerful it is when a system is coherent. Now I know it's three separate districts but we all feed into the region. So a lot of the conversation we're going to talk about is with the end in mind with a high school graduate, right? Because at the end of it when they've gone through our system, our product is a regional graduate, but they start in our elementary districts. So this is a unified conversation for everyone and um data can be used as a tool to support but I don't want us to think about it and when we have our data chats it's not about we're using the data to support our points right we're using the data to so and a lot of the conversations we've had are to support our points we're actually now using the data to tell us a story >> to become become the driving force in what we need to shift.
The Pledge of Allegiance will be followed by the Star Spangled Banner performed by our North High Combined Bands under the direction of Mr. Jessen Smith. To all our graduates and guests, please stand if you are able and join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
it widens the gap in their instructional or I don't like to talk deficit based but this is a hard conversation so we're going to dig deep so in terms of chronic m absentesis in Massachusetts it's a significant issue and it's increased by 72% from 2019 to 2023 however if you look at our numbers in terms of comparison to our enrollment And the number of students who are eight have 18 or more absences. The percentages may seem small except for some but some is a small school is a therapeutic day school but it's still significant enough that we are seeing in many of our schools in double digits and even for a school as small as palum three is a lot. So we are in terms of looking at our numbers our high school being our largest population about 12% of that population has chronic absentism which equates to 99 students >> that's almost 100 students who have more than 18 absences in our system so desi district average of 17% for students with 18 plus abs absences.
So you can always use research. You can research a topic. I can say well I really feel like attendance should include starting 15 minutes late and I find all the research based points about that. But we're starting in a different lens now. We're going to have a conversation from the data perspective. This is what the data is saying and what do we need to do as a collective to do it. So, it's a fun day. Thank you. Okay, here we go. Found it. So, for those in a live stream, you're going to kind of have like a rolling um we're going to have the presentation for the live stream and then we're going to stop for the chat and share out and then we're going to have a presentation again um so that everyone who's not here can have the opportunity. But on live stream, you also have a FAQ link.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing if you are able for the Star-Spangled Banner, and please remove your hats. Graduates, because this is a formal ceremony, you may leave your caps on. Please be seated. My name is Colette Bell. At this time, it's my honor to introduce the platform guests. As I introduce each guest, I would ask each of them to stand, and for you to hold your applause until all guests have been introduced. Dr. Hank Thiele, superintendent. Dr. Travis McGuire, associate superintendent. Board vice president, Ms. Cara Kasten, and our board members present today, Mr. Ken Dawson and Mr. Christopher Espinoza. I would also like to introduce our faculty members who'll be reading the name of our graduates.
And you'll notice that the blue is the total percentage of students with 15 or more absences. So they're already at risk of meeting chronic truency. And then the red is the students who have already met for each site. So you can see how when we're matching and I'm telling you these data conversations are rich in in our small groups when we're matching on what we're looking for. Now again, Summit is a smaller setting, so the numbers like if they had three, it would be outrageous. Um, but we're looking at not just who are already considered true, but we're already looking at who's approaching TR. So, we're looking at 15. If we were to add 10 for more absences, it would you would we felt it was a lot, but you would start to see that there's a progressive trend in to in terms of absenteeism in schools.
Um, so you can submit your questions and you can submit some suggestions through online for you in the room. We're going to have a live discussion. This is not in your handout. You want to try to print a jam and if you are in if you're in the world of education, whatever you prepare a lesson for the day, something goes wrong. So as in our good old we are all educators and we've all been teachers you have the students in front of you. So this this resource will come later but you trust me as a teacher to take you from whole group to small group. It's called gradual release of responsibility gradual release of learning where we go from I do as the instructor large T small S. So we shift over to large S small T. There's different models over the years of how it's presented itself and we're going to walk through lessons for you.
Dr. Frank Pica, choir director, and Ms. Vera Velasquez, English teacher. Thank you for your participation in our ceremony today. It is my pleasure to introduce our first student speaker, Talulah Spor. While at North, Talulah was a member of National Spanish Honor Society, class board, student council, investment club, DECA, Morgan's Message, Lights of Love student board, and varsity lacrosse. She was also a student coach for D99 Hoops team three. Next year, Talulah plans to study business, marketing, and finance at Miami University of Ohio. Please join us in welcoming Talulah Spor to the stage. Good afternoon, everyone. Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to thank our parents and families, friends, and everyone else walking beside us, and to honor those that we have lost along the way. May their impact continue to live on within us. I want to note that what is about to follow is not a neuroscience lecture, but alternatively, it is a compelling comparison that I've discovered.
Now, one of the things that we're we're going to work towards in our tracking is at what points of the year do you see more than you see less, right? We're all we also have the conversations across grade levels. Um, a lot of times if you ask the principles, they're they and their team are calling and saying, "Hey, how can we help you? How can we support you? What does this look like? You know, we didn't see you here today. It's already been three days." Um, and yes, so in looking at this chart, take Crocker Farm for Hi everyone, I'm sorry I work at Animals College. Um, if I look at this Crocker Farm data, does that mean that 13% of the students have 15 or more accesses? So, so it's combining the two things. So, Wildwood 19% of the student body >> have 15 or more.
A workshop model for me. I have the joy of being co-eing with various leaders today. I have to apologize. Some of my leaders were not feeling well this morning. So I'll be presenting their information for them, but they couldn't be here. But we work as a team. So and I've already walked through a lot of this and so I'm going to walk through it with you. So today I'm going to start off with our opening um from reality to action again with the end in mind talking about why we're here, why we look at data the way we do and then shift into some peer discussion and then we're going to go into our data chat. It's a chat um there's a lot that's going to be presented. There's going to be questions um in that moment. The presenter is able to say again let's pull a question to the end or if you have an aha moment you can share it.
This comparison was sparked during a mini unit on the human brain in our AP psychology class. And it was all it took to pique my interest in neurology and the development of personality. As we imagine the complexity, the intricacies of the human brain, and the parts flourishing as a whole, I can see how easily it compares to our four years at Downers Grove North. There are two hemispheres and eight lobes within the human brain, all working together as one intricate system that harmoniously balances unique roles, strengths, and ways of developing. The sea of identities that Downers Grove North encompasses carries over 2,000 extraordinary individuals, around 500 of whom are gathered here before me today. That is 4,000 lobes alone. And the most fascinating part is that out here, there are trillions of neural synapses working together to create a tidal wave of paths, perspectives, and voices.
Yes, because they would have 18. >> You're welcome. And thank you for that. I'm trying to talk. We'll keep going. So here she does a very good job of not just showing the overarching but trying to pull out by our demographics and the over representation of absentees of in terms of chroy. So in our district population these are our Caucasian students, our multi-racial students, our Hispanic or Latino students, our black or African-American students, Asian American Indian and Native Hawaiian. And so you start to see how when we pull out who makes up our percentages, what those demographics look like. We also went into our subgroups to determine which of our subgroups are more than likely to be Troy. And one of the key things that we had and we started to notice were that our students who have 504s or or in SE programs are at least two times more likely to be truer than others for a variety of reasons, right?
Oh, let's get through our data. And then we're going to have some mixed table dialogue where you're going to be in your handouts. You have a series of handouts. For one of them, it kind of tells you if you're in a sun group, a lightning bolt group, you're in a star group and you go to your table, you have your guided questions. You get to go through the mix table dialogues are in the back. The tables are in the back of the room. Okay. So, when is that time? If you don't have one, the team will definitely because some people registered late or some people just came in and I like the door is open because we have space. So the team is actually going to put you in a group and so you'll get that. Then that's mixt. So you don't get to sit together as a unified group.
We are no longer the same people who first walked into this school August of 2022, and that transformation is worth honoring. This transformation was expressed through anger, grief, resilience, doubt, pride, and renewal, all of which are expressed by the temporal and parietal lobes. Whether it was analyzing music, writing poetry, collecting records, scrapbooking, hacky sacking, or training for your next half marathon, our different interests shaped how we grew. Together at North, our similarities and variability formed a whole rooted in love, honor, and passion. That growth, built through patience, practice, and challenge, is what psychology defines as neuroplasticity, the ability The brain's ability to adapt and reorganize through learning. The growth we had experienced at Downers Grove North did not just come from one practice or one game. It came from our small, repeated changes and most of the time, our mistakes. Yet, none of this occurred in isolation, but rather through connection.