Attendance, graduation goals set at Shelton High

In June, Shelton High School anticipates that 331 of its 363 seniors will graduate, a 91% rate.

That would exceed the school's goal to increase the percentage of seniors graduating in four years from 78.1% - the rate from 2016 to 2020 - to 90% at the end of the school year.

Shelton High School Principal Bruce Kipper on March 8 presented the school's improvement plan to the Shelton School Board. He also talked about the efforts to return a sense of "normalcy" to the campus two years into the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's been challenging, it's been difficult," he said. "The last two years have had a profound effect on our students, in their abilities to problem solve, in their abilities to get along with others. Some have been isolated for the majority of a year, a year and a half. Some have been unsupervised. I think that had a big effect on interpersonal relationships. We are focused on developing a positive environment for students, where everyone feels included, everyone feels valued."

The school has set a goal to achieve 95% daily attendance, for 90% of the school days each month, by June. Kipper said they are "hyper-focused" on improving the attendance of three groups in particular: Native American, English language learners, and homeless students, also known as McKinney-Vento.

The attendance for those three groups stand at 70, 74 and 75%, respectively, Kipper said.

Attendance "is the No. 1 indicator of student success," he said.

Strategies to improve attendance include increasing communication with parents and guardians, and increasing collaboration with support staff that includes Native education tutors, ELL teachers and McKinney-Vento liaisons.

The school is working to help incoming ninth-grade students be more successful, Kipper said. The district is hosting a summer math camp for incoming freshman who are struggling with math, particularly for students not prepared for Algebra I or II, he said.

Incoming ninth-graders can also participate in a summer reading program, Kipper said. Students who participate in the summer math and reading programs will receive incentives in the form of hoodies and other gifts and the chance to win an iPad in drawings, he said.

The school has 25 to 30 clubs, and membership includes 156 in the National Honor Society, 82 in game theory, 80 in power lifting, 54 in DECA, 90 in choir, 15 in German, 25 in NJROTC and 100 in the spirit and pep club. Fifty-three students are receiving tutoring in math from members of the volunteer group Math Motivators.

The clubs "are giving our kids some sense of normalcy and gotten them back to the aspects of what a comprehensive high school is, which is clubs, activities, athletics and academics," Kipper said.