Regular student attendance in Richmond County Schools trending upwards

HAMLET — Mirroring statewide dropout rates and testing scores, attendance in Richmond County schools has improved post-pandemic, but still falls short of pre-pandemic figures.

Each school year, RCS sends out C-3, C-5 and C-10 letters, which correspond with how many unexcused absences a student has.

For September, October, November and December of 2023, 2,425 total C-3 letters were sent out, a decrease of 233 letters from the year before.

In that same time span, 906 C-5 letters were sent home, a decrease of 207 from the year before. There were 401 c-10 letters sent home, an increase of 11.

Dr. Wendy Jordan, director of student services for RCS, said the school district is happy with a decrease of 429 total letters compared to last year.

“Folks are finally back in the swing of pre-Covid school,” Dr. Jordan said. “More students have regular attendance, and there is stronger communication of attendance expectations set by the school and the district. I know principals and schools have that as part of their school improvement plan.”

Jordan specifically credited efforts by LJ Bell Elementary principal Jennifer Beck to encourage regular attendance. In December, Beck and assistant principal Meredith Norwood were pied in the face in front of the entire school as an incentive for students who showed up that day.

“You never know when surprise attendance events will pop up so unless students are sick, please make sure they are in school and on time each day!” states a Facebook post of the video. Other videos by guidance counselors and social workers have been posted online to share information about the importance of being in school.

The data for how many students were ‘chronically absent’, indicating that they missed more than 10% of of instructional class time, last semester was not available. During the 2022-2023 school year, about a third of students in Richmond County Schools (30%) were considered “chronically absent.” In a 180-day school calendar, that means 30% of RCS students missed 18 days. Last year, 3% of the 6,151 K-12 enrollment, a little over 180 students in RCS, missed more than 50 days, or the equivalent number of periods for high school students, of classroom instruction.

“If parents would just send a note, it would cut down on all of those unexcused absences,” Dr. Jordan said. “It can even be sent through Class Dojo, and that would help tremendously.”

While COVID is no longer a reason for a student’s prolonged absence from the classroom, Dr. Jordan said that financial issues and unstable housing can cause inconsistent attendance.

“We want families to see us as a resource and if there’s anything that we can do to connect you with the community or resources that may help your family, we absolutely want to do that,” Dr. Jordan said.

Especially during COVID, there was a lot of flexibility for high school students, many of whom went out and got jobs. Dr. Jordan said it can be a struggle to convince some of those students who received a stable income the value of returning to school. It’s a small part of why RCS has added the option of an evening school for select, identified students who may not be able to attend school in the normal 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. window. It’s expected that this will help maintain and even increase the cohort graduation rate for the district.

During the pandemic, the school system halted bringing parents to court for their child’s lack of attendance. Dr. Jordan estimates that about a dozen parents have been petitioned to appear in court in the last year, but it a last resort after habitual student absenteeism. Additionally, some families that are only being served this year may be for a warrant that was taken out in 2020.

“In a lot of cases, attendance will improve so you’re not taking families to court,” Dr. Jordna said. “They’re a handful of cases where they’re just not making the efforts to get it done and you don’t have a choice anymore.

Social workers work with families to develop a written attendance improvement plan, and work to remove barriers that may be preventing a student from coming to school. Dr. Jordan said that her staff of social workers is very optimistic in their outlook and have seen noticeable improvements in the years following the pandemic.

“We are in a better place, but there’s some challenges I don’t think we anticipated four years ago either,” Dr. Jordan continued. “It’s just different. We do feel better about where we are and optimistic about where we are going. The key is communication and making sure everybody knows [how important regular attendance is].

When a student is in school, they have access to the curriculum, in addition to school counselors, social workers and other support personnel at the school, Dr. Jordan added.

“We want children to be able to handle the rigor and the complexity of the 21st century world,” Dr. Jordan concluded, saying that regular, on-time school attendance sets an expectation that continues to the work force. “Often times, when you look at a kid that is failing in class, is it that they are cognitively challenged by the curriculum, or they have been absent with no access to the curriculum?…. Nothing takes the place of first-time instruction. It all starts with being here. We can’t teach anybody not here.”

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Reach Matthew Sasser at 910-817-2671 or [email protected] to suggest a correction.