Columbus schools investigate attendance changes

COLUMBUS (AP) — Officials are investigating whether Columbus schools acted improperly in making retroactive changes to thousands of student attendance records that could affect data used to evaluate one of Ohio’s largest districts.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the records affect the total number of students used to calculate attendance and test-passing rates. The records also can affect juvenile truancy cases.

Superintendent Gene Harris says questions about the data were raised after students showed up in court but were told they were not truant. Harris says she contacted state and district auditors after learning about irregularities last August.

She says there are legitimate reasons to retroactively change attendance records, but she won’t put up with intentional data manipulation.

Attendance rates top 90 percent in all but two of the district’s schools.