At-Risk Programming

At our board meeting on Monday evening, the board approved the continuation of our At-Risk and dropout prevention program for the next school year. A long time staple of the Hudson Community School District, these services are primarily designed to ensure school success leading to graduation. There is no mistaking the success of this program, our district consistently has graduation rates of 100% year after year. On those rare occasions we don’t have a 100% graduation rate, it can often be traced back to the fact many of those students are recent residents of the district and haven’t had the full accumulative benefit of these services year after year. At the same time, it is important to note that our standards here at Hudson are very high: with a graduation requirement of 56 credits, we are among the highest in the Cedar Valley. 

When most people think of this program, they probably consider the most infamous components of our program: the homework policy. The fact is, this policy is but one component of our comprehensive program. There are multiple ‘service areas’ that currently make up our program, and the After School Program is of course the one that most students come into contact with since it is the vehicle that enables us to successfully implement the homework policy. 

A credit recovery program exists for students to make up courses that they haven’t previously passed or those who are otherwise behind on the number of credits needed for graduation. Utilizing online coursework, this program is overseen by our At-Risk staff and school counselors. 

Home visits are also a staple of our program and serve multiple functions. First, they often provide a way for the school to make connections to the home when it is otherwise difficult to get everyone at the table who needs to be at a problem solving session. These visits are also used from time to time to ensure students are attending school. It is not uncommon for parents to request our help when youngsters refuse to attend school on a particular day, for whatever reason. 

In terms of disciplinary sanctions, our district avoids out of school suspensions. At the same time, we rarely use in school suspensions on campus. Instead, we use a safe school program where we partner with our neighbors for suspension placements in other campuses. Out of school suspensions serve little purpose other than to give pupils a day off of school with little accountability, except for the opportunity to fall (even further) behind in school.

Finally our comprehensive counseling program and team approach to At-Risk is perhaps the most important of components of our program. This coordination of services enables our team to rely on their strengths, working in tandem on complex issues. This team also is critical in coordinating outside counseling services and connecting those services with families in times of crisis.

If you have any questions about our At-Risk program, please contact Mr. Bell.