Absenteeism Remains Big Issue At WCS

Waterville Central School District continues to look at ways to address chronic absenteeism.

At last week’s WCS Board of Education meeting, the four seniors who are Student Board representatives talked about their concern with student absences.

Edmund Yang said there are students he never sees in the building and hoped the matter could be addressed before the end of the year.

Their comments kicked off a discussion with Spring and Board members about chronic absenteeism. Students who miss 10 percent, or 18 days, a year fall in that category.

Missing two days a month can put a student in that category. All absences are counted.

Spring said last year one in four students had chronic absenteeism.

She said teacher leaders are looking at the issue with a focus on understanding why a student is absent so much.

The two grades most impacted by absenteeism are kindergarten and twelfth grade.

Attendance is the best indicator of whether a student will graduate, Spring said.

Board member Steve Stanton pointed out that a student who misses 18 days a year will have missed a year of learning by senior year.

Yang said he thought lack of effort by students was a big reason some students do not attend classes.

Waterville used to have a staff member call parents when a student was absent; that call is now automated and easier to ignore, Spring said.

The pandemic also created ...