Peoria Standard

At their Feb. 13 meeting, the Peoria Board of Education invited Eric Thomas, principal of the Knoxville Center for Student Success (KCSS), to the podium to celebrate his school.

The Peoria district has been focused and dedicated on improving the attendance rates at their schools, with a goal of reaching 95% or higher attendance rate at every school. Attendance and chronic absenteeism have been huge issues across the country since the return to in-person schooling after the COVID-19 pandemic, and many districts in Illinois are nowhere near such a goal. The Peoria district saw an approximate 89% attendance rate last year and so far this year.

“Our attendance goal is 95% for each school,” Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, superintendent of Peoria Public Schools, said in the meeting. “It's an important goal for us. When our kids are at school every day, we're able to improve learning and amazing experiences for them. Principals work very, very hard. For eight years Mr. Thomas is part of that group. Every building principal has an attendance plan. They know who their kids are who are struggling, the ones who are doing well and the ones who are in between. They have lots of celebrations. And I just it's something we do very, very well, understanding that there's so many challenges and things that pull families and kids away from school.”

Knoxville has the highest improvement in attendance rates of all the school buildings in the district. They have been very intentional in working with their nontraditional student population and making continual efforts to reach out. As a result, they have had steady increases in their attendance rates, and from last year to the end of this year's first semester they saw a 9% increase in attendance rates.

Thomas thanked the board for the recognition and also for allowing the school to exist as a pathway for nontraditional students to get their diplomas. He spoke about some of the recent events and successes the school had experienced, as well as a run-in with a former student who received her diploma while being a teen mom and is now pursuing a job in the medical field.

"The KCSS is a work in progress that has learned a great deal through much trial and error over the years,” Thomas said in the meeting. “Thank you for the opportunity to provide a solid option for students that need an alternative from the traditional high school setting. No, KCSS is not some bad place where all the bad students go. Nor are we some drive-thru place where students go to get a free diploma and graduate. We have our own structure and expectations for our students that align with district goals and community needs. Every KCSS staff member has their own specific role and set of responsibilities, but we all play a part in attendance. Whether it is a phone call home, an encouraging word, a home visit, a conference with a parent, a donut on Friday, or a gift card. We are all positively promoting attendance every day. Finally, we strongly embrace the power of relationships modeled to us by district administration."