ORLANDO, FLa. – Officials with Orange County Public Schools confirmed that they are considering changes in their student absence notification system after the death of 13-year-old Madeline Soto.
A spokesperson with OCPS told News 6 that “the district is looking into changes to the notification system,” but did not provide additional details.
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Currently, OCPS teachers must submit attendance records by 3:30 p.m. Once finalized, a report is sent at the “end of the day,” informing families that their child was absent from school, school officials said.
Soto was reported missing around 8 p.m. on Feb. 26 after Stephan Sterns — her mother’s boyfriend — said he dropped her off near Hunter’s Creek Middle School. Soto’s mother went to the school around 4:30 p.m. to pick her up, but she was told that Soto had never come to school that day, according to investigators.
Sterns, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Soto, was arrested on Feb. 29 in connection to disturbing footage discovered on his phone during the search for the missing teen, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
On March 1, law enforcement officials confirmed that Soto’s body was found in Osceola County in the woods off Hickory Tree Road.
So far, no charges have yet been filed in Soto’s death.
News 6 reached out to school districts in Central Florida to find out their system for reporting student absences.
BREVARD COUNTY
Brevard Public Schools said they use an automated call to inform families of a student absence, using the Student Information Services platform Focus – the platform that handles a variety of communication between schools, the district and families.
Parents are notified once attendance has been taken and finalized by each school. Families of elementary schools are generally informed during the late morning with a call. Families of secondary students are generally informed during the late afternoon. The number of calls needed to be made can push notification to elementary families into early afternoon and calls to secondary families into early evening.
LAKE COUNTY
Officials with the Lake County School District said parents are notified with an automated call within the first one-to-two hours of the school day if a child is absent in the morning. A second “end-of-day summary” automated call to parents includes notification of absences from afternoon class period
MARION COUNTY
Marion County Public Schools said they send an automated attendance call each school day morning to the primary phone number for each absent student on file.
ORANGE COUNTY
Officials with Orange County Public Schools told News 6 it currently has an automated system in place that will send a notification via phone, text and email anytime a student is absent from school. The notification is sent to the primary contacts on record with the school and is sent each day a student is marked as absent.
OSCEOLA COUNTY
Osceola County School District officials said attendance calls go out for elementary schools at 10 a.m., for middle schools at 11 a.m. and for high schools at 5 p.m.
SEMINOLE COUNTY
Seminole County Public Schools said they utilize an automated messaging system for attendance notification. Elementary families are notified earlier in the day, and secondary attendance is taken and recorded at the beginning of each period, so secondary families may receive notification later in the afternoon or early evening.
It’s not known if any other county will consider changing the times of their notices.
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