Monfredo: A Follow-Up With More Suggestion to Stop Chronic Absenteeism

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Saturday, February 28, 2015

John Monfredo, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

In a follow-up to my article on chronic absenteeism of last week I believe that this issue must continue to make headlines within the school and the community. It’s that important!  Just recently  a national organization called Attendance Works gave some sound advice to the community about addressing the problem of chronic absenteeism. This is an organization that promotes the important role that school attendance plays in achieving academic success starting with school entry.  

Let’s start and look at what schools and districts can do as the students come back from our winter break with snow and cold weather all around us.  

• Use a phone tree to connect parents to neighbors who can drive children to school
• Start a “walking school bus” that picks up children around the neighborhood and walks with them to school.
• Connect with city agencies to make sure sidewalks are cleared quickly and snow doesn’t pile up at corners.
• Organize a snow shovel brigade of parents and volunteers to ensure that sidewalks close to your school are clear and safe for walking.
• Motivate students to come to school on bad weather days by offering incentives  … snacks, pencils, or other small awards.
• Prepare a letter or a connected message for bad weather days offering parents help in getting their children to school.
• Keep a list of students with asthma and ensure the school nurse gives them extra attention in the winter months when colds can exacerbate the chronic condition.
• Make sure every room has hand sanitizer and that teachers show students how and when to use them. Consider asking local businesses or community partners to donate small hand sanitizer bottles for students.  Teach children how to wash hands properly with soap and water.
• Keep a closet full of donated coats, hats and mittens for students who show up at school without warm weather clothing. Ask parent organizations, community partners and businesses to stock the closet.
• In general, schools should consider forming school community partnerships with health groups, social agencies and mentoring organizations to address  issues associated with poor attendance.  

There are many opportunities for community organizations and local leaders to assist in this problem.  As a member of the community ( church, social agencies, etc) you can engage and inform parents and guardians about why regular attendance is so important and how quickly a child can fall behind due to too many absences.

Here are some talking points for you to share with families:

• Absences, even if they are excused, can add up to academic trouble. This is as true in kindergarten as it is in high school. Many parents do not see the impact of their child’s attendance prior to high school on their future. Let them know that statistics show that it does matter. Go to www.attendanceworks.org for help.
• Children who miss too much school in kindergarten are less likely to READ well by the third grade.  By middle school absenteeism can predict who will graduate from high school.
• There’s not too much we can do about the weather, but there are TWO key steps parents can take to help avoid absences now and until the end of the school year… make back-up plans for bad weather and keep your children healthy.
• Do what you can to keep your children healthy. Dress them warmly for the cold weather and make sure they’ve got hats and gloves. Encourage them to wash their hands regularly, and send them to school with a bottle of hand sanitizer. Research shows that something as simple as hand washing can improve attendance. Help your child learn to persevere. 
• Remind parents that chronic absenteeism is a red alert that students are headed for academic trouble and eventually for dropping out of school.

The message out there is that going to school every day reflects … HOPE for a better future… FAITH  that school will help you or your child succeed… CAPACITY  resources, skills, knowledge needed to get to school.

As I wrote about it in last week’s column Chronic absenteeism is a problem we can solve when the entire community, including parents and schools, becomes involved.  Once again, consider serving as attendance buddies or mentors for chronically absent students and help organize events to recognize good and improved attendance and encourage local businesses to donate prizes as attendance incentives.

Please be involved with the schools for reducing chronic absence can help close the achievement gaps and take away frustration for many students  due to the fact that they have fallen behind in their learning.  It’s not too late for we still have plenty of days left in this school year!

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