Cluster Support Teams

1. PARTNERING WITH YOUR
CLUSTER SUPPORT TEAM

2. THE DEPARTMENT OF
SUPPORT SERVICES
Our Vision is to help students achieve academic success in a
safe and nurturing environment that maximizes their educational
potential and opportunities.
The Mission of the Support Services Department is to provide
direct services to students, families, and schools in an attempt to
improve academic achievement, daily attendance and behavior
through the use of programs and practices that support the socio-
emotional learning needs of students.

3. WHAT IS A CLUSTER SUPPORT TEAM
The Cluster Support Team (CST) is comprised of professionals
from the Department of Support Services who serve each of our
12 clusters. Every MNPS zoned school is served by a CST.
CST members:
• Truancy Intervention Specialists
• School Social Workers (Clinical Therapist)
• Behavior Analysts/Specialists
• Family Involvement Specialist

4. TRUANCY INTERVENTION SPECIALIST
(FORMERLY KNOWN AS TRUANCY SPECIALIST)
Truancy Specialists are responsible for monitoring attendance. They are tasked
with much of the compliance requirements for attendance dictated by the
Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA). They must make sure parents/guardians of
truant students are notified of the Compulsory Attendance Law and that their
child is not in violation of the law. The Truancy Specialists are responsible for
investigating any truancy referrals and filing all petitions with Juvenile Court as
needed. The Truancy Specialists work directly with the Court Liaison to ensure the
petitions are accurate and credible.

5. SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS
School Social Workers provide multiple levels of service to students, school staff, and families
in an effort to eliminate non-academic barriers to student success both academic and non-
academic:
• Assesses the student and determines the intervention required.
• Provide the intervention or refer the student to another provider for intervention.
• Provide counseling individually and in groups.
• Consult with teachers and administrators
• Conference with parents and students,
• Work with parents and students in crisis
• Assist students in our H.E.R.O. program with obtaining basic needs
• Assist students in obtaining medical care
• Assist administrators and teachers with student behavior, and various other needs.

6. FAMILY INVOLVEMENT SPECIALIST
The Family Involvement Specialist (FIS) is a position that identifies parent, family,
and student needs by working with families and schools. They provide trainings to
families on a wide range of topics, and assist schools in providing opportunities to
engage families to support students. They also offer professional development to
school staff on partnering with parents. The FIS also work closely with the Cluster
Support Team to address family and school needs through parent engagement,
securing community partners, connecting to the Faith Based Community, building
relationships with non-profit organizations, and government agencies. The Family
Involvement Specialist supports the Cluster Team designing and offering events
and programming to support the unique needs of each school community.

7. BEHAVIOR SPECIALIST
The Behavior Support Team (BST) provides a range of consultative and
professional development services aimed at building capacity in schools to
improve student behavior and achievement. They provide consultation on
primary and secondary interventions in addition to the development of effective
FBAs, BIPs as third tier interventions. Safety Plans are available upon request.
Professional development is offered on the following topics:
• Functional Behavior Assessment
• Part I: Overview of FBA/BIP I Forms & Procedures, Data Collection
• Part II: Practicing FBAs, Overview of BIP Phase II Forms and Procedures, Safety Plans
• De-Escalation Strategies
• The Support Team Process
• The Essential 8 of Classroom Management
• Beyond Classroom Management
• Behavior Intervention Strategies
• Data Collection in the Classroom

8. REFERRAL PROCESS
School Counselor will receive referral
and review to determine next steps.
Direct email referral to CST member
or Community Based Health Provider,
while copying the Support Services
Intake Coordinator on the email.
*Behavior Support Team
Email referrals to Jessica Sellers,
copying the Intake Coordinator
Interventionist will attempt to contact
school referral source. Ex. Teacher
Interventionist solicits support
All Interventionists attend follow -up
bi-weekly meeting led by the School
Counselor to discuss outcomes
Interventionists will evaluate
effectiveness of services to determine
if student needs to be referred to a
lower, lateral or higher tiered
intervention

9. THE VALUE OF WORKING WITH YOUR CST
• They provide direct support services to students and their families.
• They provide support to school administrators when dealing with
difficult situations.
• They enforce compulsory attendance law.
• They use non-instructional data to identify students that need
additional support.
• They can provide you with information and training that can assist
you and your team
• They are the link to community resources and support

10. SUPPORT AND INTERVENTION MEETINGS
 Monthly meeting between CST, School Administration, counselors,
and possibly other school staff and community health providers.
 In S & I meetings we discuss:
• Students with critical needs
• Students with attendance issues
• Students who have or need Social Work referrals
• Students who are struggling academically
 Plans are created to provide supportive services to identified students.

11. UNPACKING ATTENDANCE TERMS
Average Daily
Attendance
• The percentage of enrolled students who attend school each day.
It is often used for allocating funding.
Truancy
• Refers only to unexcused absences. In Tennessee, a student is
considered truant at 5 unexcused absences. It signals the
potential need for legal intervention under state compulsory
education laws.
Chronic
Absence
• Missing 10% or more of school for any reason – excused,
unexcused, suspension, etc. It is an indication that a student is
academically at risk due to missing too much school.

12. FACTORS THAT IMPACT STUDENT ATTENDANCE
AND PERFORMANCE
Home and Community
• Family Health and Finances
• Abuse and Neglect
• Adolescent stress due to violence at home and in the
community
• Parental alcohol and drug abuse
• Negative role models
• Parents who lack a formal education or does not value
education for their child/children
• Homelessness

13. FACTORS THAT IMPACT STUDENT ATTENDANCE
AND PERFORMANCE
Personal Factors
• A history of poor performance
• Special education services (documented and
undocumented)
• Unmet mental health needs
• Alcohol and drug use
• Negative peer pressure
• Lack of parental support
• Lack of vision or plan to achieve personal goals

14. SATISFACTORY ATTENDANCE IS THE KEY….
KIDS CAN’T LEARN IF THEY AREN’T IN SCHOOL.
Components of Effective Absence Reduction Programs:
• Parent/whole family involvement/engagement
• A continuum of services (incentives and consequences)
• Collaboration between school and community
stakeholders (law enforcement, social services, mentors,
case managers)
• Concrete and measurable goals with on-going progress
monitoring

15. ATTENDANCE PROCESS
PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Designate one individual (Attendance Lead) to be responsible for all school
level attendance efforts and accountable for ensuring attendance data
accuracy. This individual will be the point of contact for cluster support team
members and central office personnel.
2. Ensure the un-submitted report from the end of the day is reviewed,
document and contact teachers remaining in non-compliance.
3. Assign school staff to make corrections to student contact and address
information received from teachers, cluster support team members, and
other district personnel. (If school zone has changed, refer to Enrollment
Center.)
4. Designate school staff to participate in school level attendance team for the
purpose of investigating and creating attendance interventions for truant
and/or chronically absent students.

16. ATTENDANCE PROCESS
PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES CONTINUED
5. Ensure school level interventions are assigned for students with 1 to
6 unexcused absences.
6. Accurate documentation of all interventions completed in
PowerSchool SMS.
7. Ensure the state mandated 5 day letter is sent to parents and
documented on Support and Intervention page in PowerSchool SMS.
8. During Support & Intervention Meetings, refer students with more
than 6 unexcused absences to the Cluster Support Team. with

17. ATTENDANCE PROCESS
DAILY ATTENDANCE
1. Each teacher will take and submit attendance in PowerSchool SMS for
every class, every day and on time.
2. Assigned school staff will….
 Submit attendance for teachers not available for taking attendance
during each period of the day
 Run the un-submitted attendance report and remind teachers that
attendance has not been submitted. The submitted attendance date
time stamp report should also be pulled to determine if teachers
have submitted attendance for the entire day first thing in the
morning.
 Generate an Absentee Report and provide to teachers.

18. ATTENDANCE PROCESS CONTINUED
DAILY ATTENDANCE
3. Teachers will report discrepancies with the Absentee Report to assigned
school staff via email or phone.
4. Assigned school staff will be responsible for maintaining the Attendance
Log Notebook. A three (3) ring binder where all attendance reports will
be stored for review and auditing by the Data Quality and Information
Management and Decision Support Department. These audits will be
conducted randomly throughout the year with results being reported as
needed back to District Staff.
*Please refer to Standards of Practice for full attendance
details.*

19. ATTENDANCE PROCESS CONTINUED
DAILY ATTENDANCE
5. Assigned school staff will generate an un-submitted attendance
report to be reviewed and signed by the Principal/Attendance Lead
at the end of each day and place the results in the Attendance Log.
They will also place the daily reconciled Tardy and Dismissal sheets
in the Attendance Log Notebook behind that day’s unsubmitted
attendance report.
6. Principal will review the un-submitted report from the end of the
day, document and contact teachers for conference or other
administrative actions.