Attendance Matters

Each year between 5 million and 7.5 million U.S. students miss a nearly a month of school. We here on Kauai strive to give our keiki the tools needed to be successful in life. We need your help as parents and guardians however to bring them to school on time, everyday, for the whole day in order to give them the best opportunity possible.

Did you know that chronic absenteeism, which is when a child misses 15 or more days of school a year for ANY reason,  can predict if your child will be held back a grade level? It might seem like common sense but children who come to school do better than those who don't. Now some of you might think 15 days? No way my child has missed 15 days of school. But when you break it down if your child misses just 2 days of school a month each month during the school year, your child will have missed more than 20 days of school making them chronically absent!

Missing 15 days of school is equivalent to approximately 90 hours of instructional time. Being absent doesn't only affect one child, it affects everyone. When a child is absent the teacher must take time to review the missed material to get the child caught up which delays the lesson plans for the whole class. And when you have multiple students out at various times, you can see how quickly absenteeism can take its toll on a class.

Being chronically absent in elementary puts your child at risk for dropping out of school. If you allow your child to stay home from school you are teaching your child that it is okay to not go to school and when they get older and reach intermediate and high school they will already have it ingrained in their mind that it is okay to miss school.

Attending school on time each day teaches your child good life habits that will carry on into adulthood. If we can instill these habits at an early age, your child will learn to value attendance and punctuality when they become adults and will use these habits when begin they career. I know it is along way from now but teaching good habits now is a lot easier than breaking bad habits later.

You might be asking yourself, well when should my child stay home from school? Your child should stay home from school when sick or in the event of a family emergency. If your child has a chronic condition requiring special attention please let someone at the school know, that way we can work with you to provide the necessary accommodations for your child to be in school!

Here are a few things you as parents and guardians can do to help your child attend school...

·       Stick to the basic routines (going to bed early, waking up on time, etc.) that will help your child develop the habit of on-time attendance

·       Talk to your child about why going to school every day is important. If your child seems reluctant to go to school, find out why and work with the teacher, administrator or afterschool provider to get them excited about going to school

·       Come up with back up plans for who to turn to (another family member, a neighbor or fellow parents) to help you get your child to school if something comes up

·       Reach out for help if you are experiencing tough times that make it difficult to get your child to school 

·       If your child is absent, work with the teacher to make sure she or he has an opportunity to learn and make up for the academics missed

Help us to achieve our goals of

·       Having 100% attendance!

·       Increasing awareness of chronic absences

·       Giving every child the opportunity to learn and grow in school

·       Educating families and students about the importance of school attendance and avoiding absence unless a child is truly ill

·       Students coming to school on time and staying in school the whole day!

Remember as we strive to do our jobs here at school to educate your children we need you to do your part as well and that means making sure your child comes to school on time, everyday, the whole day. If you would like more information please talk with our staff on how we can help. You can also visit www.attendanceworks.org which is a great resource for parents on the importance of attending school.