This week's attendance has been awesome. Thank you for your support in our efforts to reach our AYP attendance goal. The tracking of attendance began on September 7 and will run through Oct. 4.
I believe steady attendance in school beginning with the 8 a.m. bell sends a strong message to children that school is very important. When students check out for things that can wait, they begin to assume that it is ok to miss school. But for each minute they are out of class, they miss instruction, thus creating gaps in learning. Any absence from class considered unexcused does not come with the privilege of making up assignments. In our Upper Grade Academy (5th and 6th grade), it is particularly difficult for students to leave during the school day because they may not get to attend a teacher's class scheduled in the afternoon. Although an excused absence allows a child to make up the work, NOTHING can replace the teaching our students receive each day.
When my own children were in grade school, we had a rule: If you are throwing up, bleeding, or cannot stay out of the bathroom, you can check out. IF you are too sick to be in school, you must go to bed and rest. No TV, period. Harsh maybe, but their attendance was good, their grades were excellent, and the message was clear that being in school in vital to school success.
Yes, attendance is the first thing we look at if students don't do well in class. It is also a quick thing to fix...just make sure your child is on time and stays at school each day. Last year there were 16 students with perfect attendance for the year...all of them are excellent students. My theory has been proven over and over.
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