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LIBERTY -- The Liberty Board of Education heard updates on chronic absenteeism and district enrollment from its superintendent, who noted a change that affected kindergarten enrollment for the school year.
As part of his report at Monday's regular meeting, Superintendent Brian Knight said the district is at 39 students in terms of kindergarten enrollment -- adding that the number is "very low" compared to what it has traditionally been.
"Part of the reason is, the state did change the requirements for kindergarteners; they have to be 5 years old on the first day of school," Knight said. "So we ended up with 11 kids that remained in preschool as a result of that, so that was a little bit of a chunk."
Knight was referring to Ohio House Bill 114, passed in late 2025, that replaces previous district-specific rules with a uniform standard, based on the district's first instruction day.
Children who turn 5 after the first day of school but before Jan. 1 may still be evaluated for early entrance, depending on the district's policies, according to the state Department of Education and Workforce's website.
The legislation went into effect March 20.
Knight said the district normally has a lot more open-enrolled students, adding that they have four at the moment.
Knight said he and Blott Guy Elementary principals Jason Yemma and Ryan Stowell have been watching the kindergarten and fifth grade numbers closely. He recalled that the district reduced the number of fifth grade classes to three because they had 58 students.
"We are around 70 for fifth grade, so there may be some changes that we have to discuss, to adjust the class sizes and provide a better balance," Knight said.
Regarding the district's high chronic absenteeism, defined as a student missing 10% of the school year for any reason -- including out-of-school suspensions and excused and unexcused absences -- Knight said school officials looked at having an attendance liaison.
Knight said he worked with the teachers' union to create a memorandum of understanding to form the position in the union, but it did not pass, which is why school officials are evaluating other options.
Knight said Antonio Reed, an intervention assistant who helps monitor attendance, is continuing to do so, but he's hoping to work on something marketed toward kindergarteners.
Knight says the district has the "Stay in the Game!" network with the Cleveland Browns, which school officials have used for the last several years and has an attendance board.
Knight says the Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio also runs a chronic absenteeism chart, which is updated every two weeks.
"What's great about it is, it tells us who our at-risk students are -- you can actually break it out by student," Knight said. "So we can start targeting some of those at-risk kids before they hit that chronic absenteeism threshold."