By Claire Hamlet
Officials in public schools in Lexington and Rockbridge County are baffled that large percentages of students are not coming to school.
Administrators said they can’t blame it on the COVID-19 pandemic anymore.
Lexington school board members said at a recent meeting that it’s possible that parents hesitate to send their children to school with a cold because the pandemic changed social expectations about being in public when you’re sick.
Haley Sigler, who has two children in local schools, said children tell their parents that when they’re in school, they spend a lot of time on computers. The students say they don’t need to go to school because they can do all their work at home.
“If we knew why it was happening, it wouldn’t be happening,” said Tim Martino, assistant superintendent for Rockbridge County Schools.
Vicki Stevens, principal of the county’s Maury River Middle School, said another factor could be that grandparents are raising many school-age children, and they can’t keep up with the demands of school.
“I don’t think education is held in the same high regard as it used to be,” she said.
For parents, there can be legal consequences if their children miss too much school.
If a student reaches 10 unexcused absences, schools can file a “child in need of services” complaint with the local juvenile court.
Stevens said the process is long. “The judge always gives parents and students an opportunity to change bad habits,” she said in an email.
She said it can take up to three months to get the first court date. Families then get another three months to improve the situation.
Statewide issue
Absenteeism is a problem statewide. The chronic absenteeism rate for grades three through eight nearly doubled over the last five years, according to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office.
The Virginia Department of Education defines a chronically absent student as someone who misses more than 10% of the typical 180-day school year.
“I don’t think education is held in the same high regard as it used to be,” Vicki Stevens said.
At Lexington’s Harrington Waddell Elementary School, 35 of 337 students have missed enough days so far this year that they are considered chronically absent.
At Lexington’s Lylburn Downing Middle School, 15 out of about 180 students are considered chronically absent so far this year.
Rockbridge County’s Maury River Middle School has 45 out of 475 students considered as chronically absent so far this year.
Methods to improve attendance
Martino said the numbers have improved slightly in the county. He said he thinks it’s because teachers and administrators have dreamed up ideas that are enticing students to come to school.
He said county school officials hold competitions for best attendance, pitting third graders against fourth graders, for example. The class that has the best record for the month gets a longer recess or a chance to eat lunch outside or gets to have an ice cream party.
Martino said the approach has worked best at Fairfield Elementary School.
County school officials are worried because they want to avoid being declared “deficient” by the state. That would happen if 15% of students are chronically absent during the school year.
“We have not reached that,” Martino said. “We are working on it in order to not reach those points.”
Last school year in Lexington, nearly 14% of Waddell students were chronically absent.
“We’ve honestly never had to worry about this” in the past, Jason White, director of Operations and Student Services said in a March 5 school board meeting. “We are starting to get to those thresholds.”
City school officials work with families, Lexington Schools Superintendent Rebecca Walters said.
She said administrators meet with parents and emphasize the importance of in-person learning.
School officials also are trying in other ways.
Waddell Principal Kimberly Troise said the school has planned a carnival to celebrate students’ improvements in attendance this year.
White, the operations director, said Lexington schools also allow students to make up missed days by attending tutoring sessions. He said elementary school students can make up a missed day of school by spending two hours with a tutor who has a teaching license.