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Attendance Figures In, Differ From School Numbers

Posted Mar 21, 2008 by Cheryl Segal

Updated Mar 21, 2008 at 03:52 PM

Here’s the school district’s list of today’s attendance by school.

One caveat: Figures our reporters received directly from the schools differ from these figures.

For example:

Durant High School:
School: Today’s attendance: 220; Total enrollment: 2,600
District: Today’s attendance: 611; Total enrollment: 2,500

East Bay High School:
School: Today’s attendance: 348; Total enrollment: 1,795
District: Today’s attendance: 427; Total enrollment: 1,785

Eisenhower Middle School
School: Today’s attendance: 392; Total enrollment: 1,570
District: Today’s attendance: 687;Total enrollment: 1,552

Lennard High School
School: Today’s attendance: 210; Total enrollment: 1,080
District: Today’s attendance: 268; Total enrollment: 1,066

Riverview High School
School: Today’s attendance: 253; Total enrollment: 2,031
District: Today’s attendance: 259; Total enrollment: 2,031

Shields Middle School
School: Today’s attendance: 214; Total enrollment: 1,235
District: Today’s attendance: 238; Total enrollment: 1,239

Wimauma Elementary
School: Today’s attendance: 200; Total enrollment: 640
District: Today’s attendance: 408; Total enrollment: 640

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Friday Frustrating, MOSI Teacher Says

Posted Mar 21, 2008 by Michele Sager

Updated Mar 21, 2008 at 12:13 PM

The MOSI Partnership School in Tampa was without three of its four buses Friday. The lone bus that pulled into the elementary that morning had just a dozen students aboard. It normally carries about 50.

“I really thought more would come but I guess our families had no way to get here,” said MOSI Principal Cheryl Dafeldecker. Out of the school’s 268 students, 109 were absent.

With classes only half full, teachers doubled up rooms. While one teacher lead instruction, another teacher would handle calls to absent students’ homes or tackle paperwork for the upcoming report card distribution next week.

Fifth-grade teacher Katrin Thiebe said she knew students wanted to come to school Friday but had no means without a bus.

“I literally had students in tears because they weren’t going to be here today,” she said. “They had friends who could get rides and they couldn’t and that made them so upset.”

Thiebe called Friday’s situation frustrating.

“We just got done with FCAT and want to push forward in our lessons,” she said. “We really can’t do that when so many students aren’t here.”

Most teachers at the school used the day to reemphasize skills by holding spelling bees and other academic competitions or drills. The MOSI students also spent part of the day at the adjacent science museum.

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Witter Elem. Principal: Today is not a ‘play day’

Posted Mar 21, 2008 by Michele Sager

Updated Mar 21, 2008 at 12:11 PM

More than half of the students at Witter Elementary were absent Friday. The elementary school had no bus service for its traditional students affecting how many attended.

Principal Anna Brown said 391 students out of 758 were absent.

“I really believe many students would be here if we had buses,” she said. “Many of our families don’t have other transportation options.”

Witter serves families in the University Area where many residents don’t have vehicles and rely on public transportation.

Brown and her staff were busy Friday confirming absences and verifying that each student had a way home and a place to go after school. Some of the local after school child care programs were closed for Good Friday.

Brown said her teachers used this opportunity to combine classes that only had a handful of students and offer academic activities between classes. For example, some classes held mock math competitions.

“This isn’t a play day or a free day,” she said. “It’s business as usual. Our students have come to learn and that’s what they are doing.”
Brown said she hopes the students return on Monday because that is the final day for Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test makeup exams. If students miss taking the test, it can affect a school’s grade from the state.

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Madison Middle Missing Students, Bus Drivers

Posted Mar 21, 2008 by Jeff Patterson

Updated Mar 21, 2008 at 12:48 PM

The bell rings at Madison Middle School at 9 a.m.

Parent’s didn’t know what to expect. Earlier in the week, Hillsborough County school officials reported 35 out of 57 teachers were expected to take Good Friday off.

Madison’s principal, John Haley, says the reality is, only eight teachers ended up taking the day off, and only two of those didn’t have substitutes to cover their classes.

Although teachers reported for work at Madison, many students took the day off. Four out of 16 buses delivered students to Madison this morning, and most of those buses had far fewer students than normal. The other 12 buses’ routes were canceled because drivers did not show up.

One bus that arrived had only four students onboard, and it arrived nearly 20 minutes after the 9 a.m. bell. On a normal day, Madison’s principal says, that bus should have had 45 students onboard.

Some parents drove their middle school students to Madison this morning, saying they waited for 20 minutes at the bus stop and finally gave up.

Like all Hillsborough County schools today, Madison will be open until 6 this evening so children can stay if their parents cannot pick them up at the normal time. Madison’s staff expects to be gone long before that, though, because of the small number of students at school today.

 

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Pierce Has The Teachers, Just Not The Students

Posted Mar 21, 2008 by Courtney Cairns Pastor

Updated Mar 21, 2008 at 11:52 AM

As the number of teacher absences mounted for Good Friday, Pierce Middle School Principal Victor Fernandez started working on contingency plans.

At one point during the week, he thought he might have as many as half of his 74 teachers absent. He managed to talk some out of taking the day off and tapped his staff to cover other classes, planning to close the media center to free up the media specialist and her assistant to take over classes.

Other staff members agreed to take on colleagues’ duties as well. Twenty teachers ultimately took the day off.

But when school started at 9 a.m. it became clear that Pierce had a new problem – it had enough teachers for classes but not enough students.
“I was very surprised this morning,” Fernandez said. “It’s quiet. It’s a quiet day.”

About 250 of 1,042 sixth- through eighth-graders had arrived by first period. Three of the buses had been canceled in advance because of a lack of drivers, but the remaining dozen that delivered children had fewer than 10 riders on each of them. There was no traffic outside the school, hallways were eerily silent and one employee described the school as a “ghost town.”

The phones in the office rang regularly with parents calling to report their children absent.

“Our biggest challenge districtwide if to have clerical go through all the phone calls and messages from parents,” Fernandez said.

In the classrooms, teachers and fill-ins did their best to stick to academics, reviewing material and giving students a chance to catch up but not presenting new lessons. Eight children from four classes total – normally with 100 students enrolled – went to the media center to work on math skills on the computers.
Their teachers followed them, with a ratio of about two students per each teacher in the class.

“At least it’s something educational and fun,” said media specialist Karen Triplett, who has worked at Pierce for 11 years and volunteered to give up her regular duties to substitute in a classroom.

“We’re just all pulling together,” Triplett said. “These kids have come, and we’re going to try to make it as enjoyable as possible.”

Regular math, eighth-grade advanced math and high-school-level Algebra 1 merged this morning with 10 students in math teacher Misuzu Platts’ classroom. The room is outfitted with headphones and computers for students to do independent work with computerized feedback, and the students were working quietly at their desks on math assignments at different levels.

“If they decided to come to school, it’s a regular day,” Platts said.

Seventh-grade language arts had dipped from 22 students to four. They pulled their desks together in the middle of the classroom and finished reports analyzing vocabulary, characters and plot from a book they were reading.

About 10 a.m., the bell rang for students to change classes.

“OK units, get ready to move,” Fernandez called into his walkie-talkie. “Don’t expect a lot of crowding in the hallway.”

 

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