Superintendent: ‘attendance initially declined’ during Operation Metro Surge

At least one local school district has had a drop in attendance since the beginning of Operation Metro Surge.
“Yes, our attendance initially declined, but since then, it has continued to improve,” Triton Superintendent Luke Lutterman wrote in an email to the DCI.
Operation Metro Surge is a federal immigration enforcement operation that has sent thousands of federal agents to Minnesota.
When it comes to attendance Lutterman said, the key is working with families.
“As with all student absences, we work closely with families to communicate and address barriers to regular attendance,” he said.
Lutterman said the main concerns he has heard are “feelings of fear with being away from family members and concerns with transportation to and from school.”
“I personally have not heard this directly from families, but from our building principals and counselors,” Lutterman wrote.
Lutterman also confirmed there have been some meetings related to federal immigration enforcement.
“We have had staff meetings to discuss our plans if Immigration and Customs Enforcement show up at school,” Lutterman wrote. “We have not had all staff meetings to discuss concerns, but do offer staff the opportunity to visit with their building principal at any time to discuss concerns. We do have a smaller group that meets weekly and is made up of our administrators, counselors, MLL (Multilingual Learner) staff, and a member from the union is now also attending these meetings. We meet to discuss attendance concerns, staff concerns, and barriers. This group works more closely to monitor attendance and develop strategies to ensure student success.”
One alternative option offered to all students beginning this year is Owatonna Online.
“We work to maintain transfers in and out of the program at the end of each quarter and semester,” Lutterman wrote.
He said there has been one additional enrollment since the start of Operation Metro Surge.
In the next town over, Kasson-Mantorville has not seen a change in students coming to school, according to Superintendent Beth Giese.
“We also have not had attendance issues,” Giese wrote. “We did have a couple requests to have a different bus stop, which we were able to accommodate.”
Down in Hayfield, Superintendent Gregg Slaathaug, said his District has not faced attendance issues as of last week.
Byron Superintendent Nate Walbruch, said Byron does not have any remote learning options, something some school districts are expanding during the heavy federal immigration enforcement activity in Minnesota.
“We are ready to accommodate students and families as needed on a case-by-case basis,” he wrote.
Asked to clarify, Walbruch wrote, “It would depend entirely on the circumstances of the student/family.”
“Accommodations could include extended time to complete assignments, changing transportation pick up, coordination with community services, etc,” he wrote.