A variety of tactics have been used to address high rates of chronic absenteeism within Parsons USD 503 schools the last few years, and strides have been made, but a lot of students are still missing too much school.
It is hoped that the addition of a community health worker in the schools will make a difference.
Assistant superintendent Jeff Pegues said he has been working with Robert Stiles through KU’s Telehealth ROCKS for several years to acquire grants to provide the position based on 503’s high poverty, at-risk factors, foster care, and chronic absenteeism rates.
“The CHW position is usually health-based, as health being a determinant for students being in school and being successful. So like in Coffeyville, they have it set up where they can help get families insurance, get them glasses, they can work with the families to show them how to get the supports and things they need to survive and help them help their children in school,” Pegues said. “This one is a little different because it is attendance-based, which is perfect. ”
While the outcome area is a different focus, the overall purpose of the position is the same, which is for all children to have access to quality education by helping families remove barriers to reaching their goals.
“These barriers are influenced by many factors that include access to health care, food, clothing, shelter and other needs,” Telehealth ROCKS explains. “ To help students meet those needs and to foster student success and wellbeing, some school districts are making use of community health workers in their schools to help ensure that all students have the same opportunity for success in school and in life.
“Community Health Workers develop relationships with families, so that when a need arises, they are a trusted partner. They help families access resources to address food insecurity, clothing needs, housing and utility assistance, transportation concerns, health care appointments and more.”
“Truancy and chronic absenteeism is usually an early indicator that there is a bigger need for early intervention,” Pegues said. “Chronic absenteeism is a red flag that families need support, that something is going on and they need help. That is a good way to target (this) position and services, is as a support to families.”
The district was looking for someone special to fill the community health worker position. They found it in Jaran Dixon.
“I want to be the best that I can be in this position,” Dixon said. “I’m honored. I am. And I will wear that with a great deal of respect every day. I love this job and the people in it.”
Dixon deals both with students struggling to come to school and parents struggling to get them to school, “because it goes both ways.”
“I’m trying to motivate parents, not just kids,” Dixon said of trying to get students to school.
He is still learning the barriers families face, as the bar changes every day. Poverty is an especially difficult barrier. It may be transportation one week. A family will get that fixed and then it may be something else.
“The thing is letting parents know, ‘I'm on your side. I’m not here to badger you or belittle you. I’m here to help you,’” he said. “I never want to talk about the problem without being part of the solution. If attendance is the problem, what can I do to be part of the solution. … I know I can’t solve every case. I know I can’t win every case, but I’m so optimistic. I’m gonna keep fighting, keep fighting, keep fighting, because that is how we get them here. Attendance is a direct correlation to academics. If you’re not here you're not going to have good academics. I’ve never seen anybody do it.”
Parent to parent, Dixon says he gets things wrong too, so he tries not to be a judgemental person. He gave up coaching college ball, and now works two jobs. He faces crazy early morning hours with UPS, and then heads to the schools for a full day, all so he can be home with his beautiful wife and children when they get out of school each day. It means little sleep and high stress. Despite the stresses, he considers himself blessed to have a job, when others may not, among other things.
“I feel like God has given me a gift. I never had money growing up. We didn’t have a whole lot, but God always gave me energy, ambition and compassion. I’m very enthusiastic about life,” he said.
He brings that enthusiasm into his job working with the families every day, regardless of not seeing instantaneous results.
“The results that I desire, that’s not just what gauges it for me. It’s like with coaching. You don’t just gauge what you’re doing off wins and losses. Did we get better? Did we grow? That’s like with these families, they are still growing,” he said. “A wise man said, ‘Don't ask me if I’ve got a good team today, ask me if I’ve got a good team in 10 years,’ so his kids went on to be better human beings.”
As a father, he seeks for other students he is working with, what he does with his own two boys. “Can those two young men be life changers? Can they be character builders? Can they be morale boosters? Can my young men leave a lasting impact on this school and the district? That’s one of my challenges for them,” Dixon said. “When I was coaching college ball, that is what I was teaching them. That is what I am trying to do in this job and life, is pay it forward. If I can make an impact on one of these young men or young women and they can pay it forward… I will probably never see the full result, but that doesn’t stop me.”
“I wear my emotions on my sleeve. There is no facade about this. I’m very blessed and very happy to be in this,” Dixon said. “Just being myself, I think that is how I will get relationships built between the schools and the homes.”
Dixon started right before Thanksgiving break, a bit of an awkward time to measure progress with holidays and winter break. Regardless, he said they saw a 3% increase in attendance up until recent wide-spread virus outbreaks took a toll on the community and schools.
Once the viruses have run their course, Dixon hopes the percentages in attendance continue to climb.
Dixon said he sees this year as kind of a trial run, given he came into the position mid-year. He is laying groundwork for next year, so he can jump into 2025-26 the right way.
“I want to break barriers,” he said.
KU Telehealth’s Sage Brown came last week to see how Dixon is doing, find out what he may need and to learn first hand about what the challenges the district faces. They went over with Pegues a lot of the data, what the schools are doing to address chronic absenteeism, how they are taking a tiered approach to it and all the data in what they are doing to make improvements.
“When I go to the district office to these meetings, Jeff Pegues breaks down the data, he doesn’t just give us the data, like a read through. We are dissecting the data and there are some really damn good things going on in our community and school district. There’s not going to be a newspaper article about that or an award for that,” Dixon said. 
He hopes his contributions add to the many other positives in the district, and "be a safety net to keep kids from falling through the cracks."
“They just need someone to believe in them. This is one thing I found out coaching, when you believe in somebody - no matter what age, from birth to death - it’s crazy what happens to another human being when you truly believe in them, the goals they can reach, what they can accomplish. When we believe, it is very much like my religion. I believe, so there is no failure. I know no matter what, I can dig a little bit deeper. That’s what I’m trying to get (students and parents) to do, is just dig a little bit deeper,” Dixon said.
If people want to know why he carries himself the way he does today, it is because 20 years ago walking the same halls, someone believed in him, like Riley Cartwright, who passed this last year.
“Riley Cartwright was my everything. He was my preacher, my teacher, basketball coach, my mentor,” Dixon said. “Riley Cartwright, Coach Phillips, Coach Turner, Coach Strathe, Coach Don Barcus. These are the guys that made a big impact on my life. They believed in me.”
Pegues said he has no doubt Dixon will have a positive impact on the students’ and their families he connects with, so long as the program is funded, providing that opportunity.
“Jaran coached for us for several years, basketball and football for the high school. He was a phenomenal coach,” Pegues said. “He builds relationships. He’s got a ton of energy. The kids love him. He’s from here. He knows everybody in town and everybody in town loves him. This position is knocking on doors and having tough conversations with families, so his skill set and his relationships are going to be part of that, that makes him successful at it.
“I think he is doing a fabulous job. Not only does he have relationships but he has high expectations. I don’t think he has any problem getting on to a kid saying, ‘You need to be here at school’ and showing them some tough love as well as that support, too. It’s a tall task. He is in all five buildings. His caseload should be 38 to 40 students and right now we have about 300 hundred chronically absent, so there is a lot of need and there is only one Jaran. So we've had some meetings and gone through the list of kids to try to target some in Tier 3 (those attending below 80% of the time). He’s already setting up parent meetings and going out to houses. He’s doing the work. It’s just not going to be a quick fix. It is going to be a long process.”