In a video posted from the district Thursday morning, Trigg County Superintendent Dr. Rex Booth has offered some clarity on truancy and homeschooling concerns that stemmed from last week’s working session for the Board of Education.
Booth said the district wants to service school-aged children in the community better, but also wants to know why parents over the last five years have increasingly been transitioning their children off campus.
He reiterated the district’s original point from a week ago, in that more than 150 students have gone home — few returning — and that this year, more than 40 students have been removed.
Booth confirmed that, last fall, district officials did seek feedback from these families — sending out more than 100 surveys to high-school aged students and their families.
One was returned.
Truancy, Booth said, is a chronic issue not native to Trigg County, but the entire Commonwealth, and he said it’s a trend that must be addressed with rigor.
As superintendent of Trigg County Schools, Booth said it’s his job to “recognize that pattern,” and that he has to “talk honestly about how it affects kids and their future not only for Trigg County Schools, but the entire community as a whole.”
The idea of a bolstered virtual academy, he said, would allow for parents and caretakers to have an “added flexibility,” while providing students a chance to be a part of Trigg County Schools — allowing for accountability, support, access to technology and a research-based curriculum if the Board of Education further agrees to it.
Booth further iterated the district is seeking public response on this matter, and he offered his phone number and email: (270) 522-6075, and rex.booth@trigg.kyschools.us.
It is, again, worth noting that working sessions are open-to-the-public meetings that involve roundtable discussion, and no action is taken during said meetings.
Recent reporting from Your News Edge generated more than 200 public comments on social media, and ranged from concerns of district-wide bullying and questions on curriculum, all the way to parents having a desire to bring children closer into the family and home.
