On the opening days of the school year, buildings are filled with students who rush into school eager to greet friends they haven’t seen all summer. In some cases those friends are their primary …
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On the opening days of the school year, buildings are filled with students who rush into school eager to greet friends they haven’t seen all summer. In some cases those friends are their primary motivation to attend school.
Even in early in the school year, some students already are heading toward academic trouble because they are missing too many days of school. Data released in June 2016 by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) revealed that more than 6.8 million students missed 15 or more days – almost a full month – of school during the 2013-14 academic year. The data shows the unsettling reality that millions of students are missing so much school that they are struggling to read proficiently by third grade and are more likely to drop out.
Here in the Port Townsend School District, our rates are good overall, with over 90 percent of the students present for school each day.
However, there are some students who are already not attending regularly. Common sense tells us that all of our efforts won’t improve academic success if students aren’t showing up to benefit from them.
So, Port Townsend School District is joining a nationwide call to action to make improved attendance a top priority for this school year.
By supporting this program, our district joins a growing national movement of schools looking beyond average daily attendance and truancy numbers to identify and address the challenges that keep students from getting to school every day.
Our first step will be letting families know what a critical role they play in getting children to school on time every day. Many families simply don’t understand how missing just two days a month can put a child at academic risk, starting in the early grades. Teachers will reinforce these messages and, when they can, offer fun incentives to encourage good attendance.
We will be monitoring attendance numbers, which are early warning signs that can trigger action and support.
But schools can’t do this alone. Please join us in our effort to make every day count.
John Polm is superintendent of the Port Townsend School District.
