Fort Bend ISD has scheduled two community meetings for May 13 and May 20 designed to gauge the community on ways to help improve attendance and engage students.

The two scheduled meetings will address the various challenges faced by the district and ways the district and community can work together to help all children succeed. The goal of the meetings is to find solutions that will help close achievement gaps by improving attendance and reducing truancy, and engaging students in their learning to improve student disciplinary issues, FBISD officials said.

The meetings come in the wake of the district’s decision to suspend the enforcement of all procedures relating to truancy pending a full review. The decision to suspend truancy procedures—announced in a letter to parents April 27—is the result of a culmination of events, including a March report by Austin-based advocacy group Texas Appleseed that revealed racial disparities in the application of truancy laws not only statewide but in FBISD as well.

During the review of truancy procedures, FBISD officials said the district will continue to move forward to meet with the community and focus its efforts on improving student engagement.

Parents are invited to attend one of two meetings. The first meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13 at Marshall High School, 1220 Buffalo Run, Missouri City. The second meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20 at Bush High School, 6707 FM 1464, Richmond.