EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series looking at what Lake County communities, agencies and school districts experienced in 2024 and what is facing them in 2025. The Painesville City School District brought chronic absenteeism down, kept graduation rates up and increased its state report card score in 2024. Those were among the positive stories that district Superintendent Josh Englehart chose to highlight as the year drew to a close. “My expectations entering this year were to be able to maintain focus on the core goals of our continuous improvement plan and to continue steady progress on the initiatives of our district strategic plan without undue distraction,” Englehart said. “I’m pleased that we have been reasonably successful with this. “The great majority of our kids are showing up and demonstrating effort, our families have engaged pretty well and our staff has remained committed,” he added. Making progress One of the district’s strategic plan goals is to develop support systems focused on the causes of student absences. Englehart said that the district has worked on messaging its families, incentivizing students to attend school and creating student-specific intervention plans. State records indicate that 31.9 percent of the district’s students were chronically absent in the 2023-24 school year, a decrease of around seven percentage points from the year before. The district’s rate has decreased each year from a high point of 43.3 percent in 2020-21. Englehart said in September that the district’s chronic absenteeism rates of around 40 percent in the past few years had been among the highest in the state. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce defines chronic absenteeism as a student missing 10 percent or more of the school year. Statewide, an average of 25.3 percent of Ohio students were chronically absent in the 2023-24 school year. Englehart wants to bring the district’s numbers down even further next school year. “While we significantly reduced our student chronic absenteeism rate, about 32 percent of our students remained chronically absent from school,” he said. “It is extraordinarily difficult to have a large impact on student outcomes when such a large number of students miss this much school.” The district has also joined the Stay in the Game Network, which offers incentives for student attendance in partnership with the Cleveland Browns. According to Englehart, the district’s 2024 graduation rate remained the same as the previous year. He said that the four-year graduation rate of 92.3 percent was Painesville City Schools’ “highest graduation rate ever recorded on the state report card.” The district’s overall state report card rating increased to 2.5 stars out of 5 for the 2023-24 school year, an improvement from 2 stars in 2022-23. The report card said that the district “needs support to meet state standards.” Representatives from the Cleveland Browns visit Heritage Middle School in Painesville on Sept. 10 as part of the Stay in the Game initiative to reward student attendance. (Courtesy of Painesville City Schools) Program growth This year also saw growth in the district’s construction program. Englehart said that it increased from four students two years ago to 26 students in 2024. The city of Painesville agreed to lease city space for the program to the school district in October. District Director of Federal and State Programs and Technology Heidi Fyffe described the deal at the time as a “win-win,” stating that the district would be able to double the program size and make it available to more students. She added that the students would work to improve the site and store materials there. “Last year, every student earned pre-apprenticeship credentials, and we anticipate the same for this year’s participants,” Englehart said. The district also launched almost 20 clubs in the fall 2024 semester, he told the district’s school board in December, adding that the clubs can boost student engagement and build relationships. The clubs differed at each school and ranged from art and choir clubs to basketball, fishing, gaming and boys clubs. Englehart said that other proposed clubs include girls, fitness, Lego, futsal, racket sports and cooking and baking clubs. Finances and staffing While the district reported progress in a number of areas, he said that one continuing challenge in 2024 was staffing. “Staffing shortages (particularly among drivers and specialized education staff) have required us to continually cross-train wherever we can, and to exercise creativity in job assignments to be as efficient as possible,” Englehart said. Engelhart said that the district has prepared for an increase to general fund expenditures because it is running out of COVID-19 relief funding. Painesville City Schools expects to have a positive balance through 2027 if there are no major changes to state funding. He added that an unexpected budget change was the increase to health care costs. “This has resulted in the need to make some cuts in order to secure fiscal stability into the future,” Englehart said. “We are confident that we can make these cuts through personnel attrition without substantial impact to programming at this time. “Given a degree of uncertainty about state funding in the years to come, as well as uncertainty about the volatility of future health care costs, we need to take these steps now in an effort to minimize the impact of possible future changes in revenue and expenditures which deviate from reasonably predictable patterns,” he continued. More 2024 highlights While the district did not implement “significant changes” to its cellphone policy in 2024, Englehart said that it added “more precise language around permissions, prohibitions, and consequences.” “We have reviewed and revised our enforcement parameters in the interest of consistency and effectiveness and are implementing a more stringent system of enforcement for the second semester,” he added. The district’s current policy allows students to use personal communication devices subject to various restrictions “before and after school, during their lunch break, during after school activities…or at school-related functions.” The district school board also approved a $303,000 bid from RJK Roofing in May to replace flat sections of the Harvey High School roof and address leaks. Looking ahead In 2025, Englehart said that the district will focus on “proper and effective implementation of new curriculum in both reading and math.” “While we have made academic gains, those gains have not proceeded at a rapid enough pace, and we still have segments of students who remain well behind their peers,” he said. “We have great confidence that the new curricula will provide us with the tools necessary to better close gaps and accelerate achievement.” The district is also aiming to move towards a 100 percent graduation rate, decrease chronic absenteeism and increase student achievement results. Englehart said that the district is also looking to further engage students. He expects the district’s challenges in 2025 will look similar to recent years. “The educational space is marked by a great deal of uncertainty,” Englehart said. “Staffing shortages continue to evolve toward a crisis level, the school funding picture remains murky and the political environment introduces a great deal of volatility. “We remain focused on our community despite these challenges, and remain committed to doing our very best to meet the needs of our students and families,” he added.