ARKANSAS, USA — After the COVID-19 pandemic, chronic absenteeism is forcing schools to get creative to improve attendance.
"We implemented a really cool mentor program where every kid in our building has someone that they can kind of rely on, [who] checks in and out to make sure that they're doing OK," Lincoln High School Principal Stan Karber said.
Karber said his school is on high alert when kids are repeatedly absent.
"We're constantly monitoring where our kids are at, especially if they're not here," Karber said. "We also kind of shifted our focus on what we were doing with the kids here."
Karber said the new mentor program and changing to a four-day school week has helped reduce absences.
"Last year, we went to four days a week," he said. "That's when we had the biggest impact where we could clearly see kids coming back into the building. And this year, we've been rocking it like we have very minimal absenteeism. Lots of kids are back in the classrooms. I think they just truly enjoy it."
According to the Arkansas Department of Education, chronic absenteeism is when a student misses 15 or more days of school in a year. Karber said he can easily spot when Lincoln High School students are not there.
"We can identify all the kids. They're not numbers, so I know them by name and face," he said. "If I know that you haven't been here a little bit [and] when I see you [and] I recognize the fact that you're back in the building, I'm going to have a conversation with you about where you've been."
Larger districts are also taking action. Rogers Public Schools Superintendent Jeff Perry said the district hired 10 social workers to hopefully eliminate barriers that keep students from getting to school.
"Sometimes it involves transportation that they were trying to rely on a parent or a friend to get to school, and sometimes it was simple as 'You got to ride the bus. We bring a bus by your house. You got to get on the bus and you got to come to school,'" Perry said.
Perry said other reasons for absences can be more complex.
"Sometimes it was much more complicated that they really didn't have the infrastructure at home," he said. "No parent was at home when they had to get up to go to school because both parents were working, or the parents were absent for whatever other reason. And so we had to work with particular students on buying alarm clocks [and] creating a social network that somebody went to get them and pick them up."
Similar to other districts, Perry said there are incentives in place to encourage attendance.
"At the elementary level, for example, if you have a certain level of attendance, there are some extra activities at the end of the year that you get to participate in," Perry said. "A local car dealership actually donated a car, and one student from all the high schools was able to receive a car if they had ... perfect attendance. We have done some other things and looking at other options. The one that seems to be very popular is that if you have perfect attendance, or attendance at a certain level, you are exempt from taking your exams."
Arkansas Department of Education Secretary Jacob Oliva is one of dozens of leaders who say the state is working to cut chronic absenteeism.
Oliva provided the following statement to 5NEWS:
"Attendance is a critical factor in student learning. If students are not in class, they are not learning content they need to know to succeed at school and in life. That is why we are committed to participating in this program. We not only want to raise awareness about the importance of students being in school but also to show our commitment to improving outcomes in this critical area."
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