On August 16th, the AIU and Project SEEKS SES held its first virtual community of practice meeting. The meeting — which was attended by over 40 people —revolved around chronic absenteeism. 

Each community of practice meeting will focus on a shared topic of interest between school district, higher education and community partners. Each meeting will be facilitated by the Project SEEKS SES coordinator, Shannon Fagan, in conjunction with a school district/university partner and subject matter expert. For the full upcoming schedule, click here.

During this inaugural meeting, Dr. Jacquelin Rankine and Dr. Dakota Peterson from Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh presented data and information gleaned from their studies in relation to chronic absenteeism, and the contributing factors.

Afterwards, Edward Wehrer, the superintendent of the Steel Valley School District, shared his experience with chronic absenteeism, and how he and his district has tried to combat it.

For a video of the community of practice meeting, click here. Please note that the video starts roughly ten minutes after the meeting started.

Some relevant timestamps:

• Dr. Jacquelin Rankine presents from 0:00-24:57
• Dr. Dakota Peterson presents from 25:30-41:18
• Edward Wehrer presents from 41:48-52:08
• Further discussion afterwards