Schools within the Auburn Enlarged City School District are exploring creative ways to combat student absenteeism.
While attendance is emphasized at all seven schools within the district, the district recently highlighted the work of two schools – Genesee Elementary and Casey Park Elementary Schools – in combatting student absenteeism.
At Genesee Elementary, school officials partnered sixth graders with kindergarteners to hold each other accountable. The district said that these two grades typically see the highest rates of absence.
“The little student looks forward to coming to school to be with their older student,” said Genesee Principal Mary Claire Pineau. “They have breakfast together. They have a check-in chart that the sixth graders do in the kindergarten (classroom), which has seen positive results in kindergarten attendance. We’re happy about that.”
Pineau added that, while the school’s attendance rate is projected to match last year’s, she wants attendance to improve over last year.
“We’ve put a few more things in place this year,” she said. “We are working with families more closely. We have a set plan. We’re focused on engaging families so we can improve attendance because a barrier is getting parents to understand how important it is for the kids to be here regularly and not miss days at all, unless they are actually sick.”
The school has also taken to social media, namely TikTok and Facebook, posting videos on the importance of attendance.
“We are pushing our social media campaign, it’s a big thing this year,” Pineau said. We’re trying to engage families on that platform, breaking down some of the stigma or hesitation that parents have about connecting with school if they’re having issues (getting their child to school). We have gotten an overwhelmingly positive response. We’re surprised at how many people and followers we’ve gained on our platforms just because we’re putting out fun videos.”
Additionally, the school holds dance parties on Fridays and gives attendance statistics on the morning announcements.
“The kids look forward to that. Fridays are our best attendance days, which is a good change from last year,” she said. “We have a 92% attendance goal that we talk about every morning on the announcements, so the kids know exactly where we were the day before. They know our percentages, they know where their grade level sits, and they know the classrooms that had perfect attendance. We review it every single morning.”
To combat absenteeism, Casey Park has implemented peer groups and an occasional raffle where five students from each grade can win five prizes.
“Each classroom has set a goal for how many perfect attendance days they could have,” said Principal Brianne Batis. “It helps with students holding each other accountable, which is nice. So if a child isn’t out sick, their peers are saying, ‘We want perfect attendance, where are you?’”
Batis cited one student, whom she said was chronically absent last year, increasing attendance because of the raffle.
“The kids that win are really excited,” Batis said. “I think the nice thing is, we’ve had kids who’ve had almost perfect attendance winning, but we’ve also had kids who have had attendance interventions win. That’s another positive reinforcement for them to come to school every day.”
Similar to Genesee, grade-level attendance is also given during morning announcements at Casey Park.
“We have people talking about it more, our goals and pop-up days, highlighting it during our assemblies,” she said. “I think students and teachers are talking about attendance and bringing more awareness to it. I feel that’s helpful.”
The district said it continues to seek ways to improve attendance at all its schools.
