One upstate school rolls out new attendance initiative

ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – Schools in Anderson County have been in session for nearly two weeks. Flat Rock Elementary created a new initiative to keep their attendance high.

Principal Christy Dodd walks through the halls, after teachers take attendance every morning, to hand out rubber flamingos.

“We decided that we wanted to focus on student attendance this year,” Dodd said. “Every teacher has a board outside of his or her room, and on that board daily, the teacher writes the number of children who are present, the number of children who are supposed to be in the classroom, and then the percentage of children who are present at school.”

Principal Dodd said the school’s chronic absenteeism rates increased last year.

“If a child misses 10% of the school year they are considered to be chronically absent. Truancy is different. When a child misses three consecutive unexcused days they’re considered truant. If a child is chronically absent, they’ve missed at least 18 school days for the entire year. That’s a lot,” said Dodd.

The daily attendance average for the past two weeks is 95%. If the class meets that average, then they will receive a duck.

“For our K4 and K5 students, they don’t really understand what those numbers mean but they know when our principal comes around and they get a pink flamingo then all of their friends are here today in their class and it’s something to celebrate,” said Amber Hall.

To celebrate, the class in each hallway with the most ducks by the end of the month wins a prize.

“They really want to get their flamingo out there. I feel like they go home and they’re like, no, I need to be at school tomorrow so I can get my flamingo and that has to be the difference,” said Hall.

Leaders said regular school attendance is one of the biggest predictors of student success.

“Not only is it important for them to show up so they can learn, of course, but when they show up to school, they see their friends, they see their teachers, they get lots of social interaction, and we know they’re getting fed a healthy meal every single day,” said Hall.

“We committed to doing this for the year and if it works we’ll continue it in the future,” said Dodd.

School officials said they have also incorporated new English Language Art standards from the State Department of Education.

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