Star Tribune
Minnesota school, county leaders push to address ‘chronically absent’ students
The school day begins at 9 a.m. on Wednesdays at Roseville Area High School — as opposed to 8:10 a.m. starts the rest of the week — yet many students still are arriving late.
Time for an intervention. Last week, dozens of kids were steered to the cafeteria, handed scripts and told to phone home with the message: I now plan to be in class on time.
It’s all about boosting school attendance in a tough post-pandemic era. In some Minnesota schools, half of the students miss 10% or more of the school year. And attendance has been even worse among some demographic groups.
Attempts to address the issue will likely come to the fore during the approaching legislative session, with at least one education advocacy group making it a priority. Already, several east metro school districts have huddled with Ramsey County Attorney John Choi to consider possible solutions to attendance concerns and the way truancy ripples across other societal issues.
Choi has a role in enforcing truancy laws, but he does not speak in hard-line terms. He wants to see the various players unite and work toward common goals. Of particular concern, he said, is the difficulty tracking students who’ve left a district and never returned to school.
“There is a very distinct connection, I think, with some of the most serious and violent offenses that have been committed by youth,” Choi said last week. “Law enforcement often will ask, ‘Where do you go to school?’ And many times the kids will look back at the police officer and say, ‘I don’t go to school.’ “
He plans to continue working with the state Department of Education to strengthen data access and perhaps pitch a pilot project for Ramsey County this legislative session.
At the district level, St. Paul and Roseville are employing new strategies to get kids in school and reporting success. Officials with those districts, as well as North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale and West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan, were among the school leaders to meet with Choi during the fall.
The education advocacy group EdAllies, which works closely with underserved communities, aims to help drive conversation at the State Capitol around lagging test scores and shaky attendance — as well as identifying potential fixes.
At a session kickoff event last week, EdAllies laid out findings that show:
• More than 30% of the state’s students were chronically absent in 2021-22 — meaning they missed 10% or more of the school year.
• Nearly half of students living in poverty were not regularly attending school, nor were 40% of Black and Latino students, and more than half of Native students.
• More than half of the students in 78 districts across the state were chronically absent.
Matt Shaver, EdAllies’ policy director, said too many students are missing out on free meals, ethnic studies courses and mental health support, all of which were legislative priorities a year ago.
“We’re talking about numbers that are not going to fix themselves on their own,” he said of the need to dig into the issue. “We are trying to start a conversation.”
DFL state Rep. Laurie Pryor, of Minnetonka, who chairs the House Education Policy Committee, said last week via email: “Chronic absenteeism is an issue that we would like to look at this year.”
Attendance still lags pre-pandemic levels
In 2021-22, the most recent year for which statewide attendance data is available, just 57% of St. Paul students and 63% of Roseville students were regularly attending school.
St. Paul has put finer points on its 2022-23 data, and it shows that half of Native students and 35% of Black students missed 20 or more days. This year, the district has added an American Indian attendance intervention specialist and seen a slight improvement in the number of kids who attend school regularly, said Kathy Lombardi Kimani, director of the Office of School Support.
On a broader level, St. Paul and Roseville are taking similar approaches to getting kids in class. Attendance teams have been assembled at the schools. Teachers call parents when a student has three unexcused absences. Attendance gains are made a part of individual school improvement plans.
Melissa Sonnek, assistant superintendent of Roseville Area Schools, said some buildings have attendance mentors who reach out to kids to say: “‘Hey, we missed you yesterday. We’re so glad you’re here today,’ and kind of help them get caught up,” she said.
Roseville Area High School is projecting a 21% drop in unverified absences this year. That translates to students missing an average of about five days in 2023-24, said Principal Jen Wilson, who is in her first year there. She said schools should work “to cultivate joy” so kids want to return each day.
Lombardi said the percentage of St. Paul students who attend school regularly rose in this year’s first quarter but was not yet at pre-pandemic levels.
“We are trending in the right direction,” she said. “But we are all still working hard to get that number even lower.”
A 19-year-old driver trying to get around slower vehicles collided head-on with an SUV in Wright County and killed one person and injured several others, officials said Thursday.
SUV passenger Janice Evelyn Johnson, 92, of Arden Hills, died Monday at HCMC from injuries she suffered in the collision on Oct. 22 in Monticello Township on County Road 37 near County Road 12, the Sheriff’s Office said in a search warrant affidavit filed in Hennepin County District Court.
The driver and two other people in the SUV survived their injuries, according to the affidavit, which the Sheriff’s Office filed to collect Johnson’s medical records at HCMC as part of its investigation.
According to the affidavit:
Deputies arrived at the crash scene and spoke with the car’s driver, Christian Kabunangu, of Brooklyn Park, who said he was heading west on County Road 37 and found himself behind two vehicles traveling below the speed limit.
“He was late for work, so he decided to pass them,” the affidavit read. Kabunangu said he saw the oncoming SUV and estimated it was about a half-mile down the road.
As he attempted to pass one of the slower vehicles, he explained, the other driver “sped up, preventing him from getting back into the westbound lane,” the filing continued.
As the Honda drew near, he swerved to the left, but the SUV did the same and they collided.
Star Tribune
University of Minnesota researchers find that native plants can beat invasive buckthorn on their own turf.
If the invasive buckthorn that is strangling the life out of Minnesota’s forest floor has a weakness, it is right now, in the shortening daylight of the late fall.
With a little help and planning, certain native plants have the best chance of beating buckthorn back and helping to eradicate it from the woods, according to new research from the University of Minnesota.
The sprawling bush has been one of the most formidable invasive species to take root in Minnesota since it was brought from Europe in the mid-1800s. It was prized as an ornamental privacy hedge. All the attributes that make buckthorn good at that job — dense thick leaves that stay late into the fall, toughness and resilience to damage and pruning, unappealing taste to wildlife and herbivores — have allowed it to thrive in the wild.
It grows fast and thick, out-competing the vast majority of native plants and shrubs for sunlight and then starving them under its shade. It creates damaging feedback loops, providing ideal habitat and calcium-rich food for invasive earthworms, which in turn kill off and uproot native plants. That leaves even less competition for buckthorn to take root, said Mike Schuster, a researcher for the university’s Department of Forest Resources.
When it takes over a natural area, buckthorn creates a “green desert,” Schuster said. “All that’s left is just a perpetual hedge, with little biodiversity.”
Since the 1990s, when the spread became impossible to ignore, Minnesota foresters, park managers and cities have spent millions of dollars a year trying to beat it back. They’ve used chainsaws and trimmers, poisons and herbicides, and even goats for hire. The buckthorn almost always grows back within a few years.
It’s been so pervasive that a conventional wisdom formed that buckthorn seeds could survive dormant in the soil for up to six years. That thought has led to a sort of fatalism: even if the plant were entirely removed from a property there would be a looming threat that it would sprout back, Schuster said.
But there is nothing special about buckthorn seeds. They only survive for a year or two.
Eden Prairie Eagles (6-3) at Maple Grove Crimson (9-0), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Maple Grove faithful are understandably jittery about getting Eden Prairie this early in the playoffs, but they should trust their eyes. The Crimson are loaded, with quality playmakers at every turn, like safety/receiver Dylan Vokal. Eden Prairie is built for games like this, but while the Eagles will keep things tight for awhile, Maple Grove will pull away in the second half, leading to a seismic sigh-of-relief from northwest metro. The pick: Maple Grove 35, Eden Prairie 21
David says: Eden Prairie’s time, however decorated an success-filled, is done and over. Provided the Crimson are able to take it. Maple Grove is capable of success as long as players don’t make the moment too big. Former coach Matt Lombardi cracked the code. What about his replacement, Adam Spurrell? The pick: Maple Grove 21, Eden Prairie 14
Edina Hornets (7-2) at Eagan Wildcats (5-3), 7 p.m.
Jim says: On paper, this leans toward an Edina victory. The Hornets have top-end talent on offense (QB Mason West, WR Meyer Swinney), an under-appreciated defense and a season-opening 35-14 victory over Eagan. But the Wildcats are resilient and don’t back down from anyone. Quarterback Brooklyn Evans is adept at running the Wildcats option offense and will keep them in the game. The pick: Edina 28, Eagan 15
David says: Tempting as it is to pick against Edina and revel in another office cake party, let’s go with the Hornets in this one. Expect an improved Eagan team to keep Edina within reach, however. The pick: Edina 21, Eagan 20
Alexandria Cardinals (7-2) at Moorhead Spuds (9-0), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Alexandria came oh-so-close to beating Moorhead on Oct. 11, falling 36-34 when a game-winning field goal went wide-left. While the Cardinals hoped for this rematch, Moorhead has the look of a team on a mission. Outside of the head-to-head matchup, Moorhead dominated every other opponent with a series of 30-point plus victories. No one mashes the Spuds. The pick: Moorhead 44, Alexandria 34
David says: The Game of the Year, Part II. Only thing to make this more juicy would be an upset. Is Alexandria up to that task? I don’t have the courage to go out on that limb in this space. The pick: Moorhead 42, Alexandria 24
Andover Huskies (7-2) at Elk River Elks (8-1), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Another highly anticipated rematch. Andover handed mistake-prone Elk River it’s only loss, 47-31, on Sept. 20. With three lost fumbles, Elks’ coach Steve Hamilton called it the worst game they’ve played in five years. You can bet they’re itching to prove they’re better than they showed that night. The pick: Elk River 49, Andover 37
David says: Bet the over when these two teams clash. Andover’s quarterback Joseph Mapson is a much more polished and proven signal caller that he was in late September. The Pick: Andover 49, Elk River 48.
