Jefferson County Public Schools' (JCPS) multi-faceted effort to get more students to school more often is paying off. The number of students considered chronically absent has dropped this school year. Through the first half of the school year, 28.4 percent of JCPS students have been chronically absent. That’s a decrease of five and a half percent, or approximately 4,000 fewer students, from the same period of the 2023-24 school year. Students are labeled chronically absent if they miss more than 10 percent of instructional days - about two days per month or 18 days per school year.
“We’re encouraged by this data and what it means for our students,” said Dr. Marty Pollio, JCPS superintendent. “Students can’t learn if they’re not in school so we’re doing everything we can to make sure parents and guardians understand their kids need to be in school and to know when they are not.”
The improvement is a result of hard work, perseverance and employing some new strategies according to Dr. Matt Anderson, assistant superintendent of culture and climate.
“We’ve begun texting frequent attendance updates to every parent or guardian,” Anderson said. “This lets adults know exactly how many school days their child has missed and lets families know what they can do to help us make sure their child is in school.”
The attendance text messages families receive allow them to view real-time attendance records and track absences, access resources and support for improving attendance, and communicate directly with school staff regarding attendance concerns.
JCPS also has a designated attendance team which calls parents/guardians of students who are chronically absent or on the verge of missing too much school. Team members also make home visits, knocking on doors and meeting with families to understand why their student is missing so much school.
The attendance team works with families to link them with resources like transportation, food, clothing and health services that might be keeping a student from getting to school.
“Chronic absenteeism is a complicated challenge that grew worse during the pandemic,” Anderson said. “While we feel good about our current efforts, we recognize that we must work hard every day in collaboration with parents, state agencies and schools to ensure students get to class so they have the opportunity to be educated, successful members of our community.”
Parents/guardians can find more information about JCPS attendance policies in the Parents Guide to Attendance & Absences.