By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Classes officially begin today for the St. Joseph School District and officials want to see students in school.
District officials launched an attendance comeback plan in January after seeing a record low number in attendance.
Director of School Improvement Kendra Lau says thanks to the comeback plan attendance numbers did go up by the end of last school year.
"Our attendance had improved by May by almost 5%, but yet we have a lot of work to do," Lau tells a crowd gathered at the district Back to School news conference. "Nationwide eight million students are chronically absent, and that was before the pandemic now that number has doubled, last year our students missed on average nine weeks of school."
Lau says even worse was some of the district's kindergartners missed half the year.
Lau says people seem to recognize when something is not fair, but she says it's not fair to students if they are not in school.
"So, if we are worried about our kids getting a fair shake at a good life, we need to get them in school, the pandemic wasn't fair it hit us hard it hit the nation hard, but the pain of the pandemic and our past has to become the promise of our future," Lau says.
That comeback plan will continue into this school year. Assistant Superintendent Ashley McGinnis says one way the district hopes to encourage attendance is by 'going back to the basics'
"So, what does this look like in the classroom?" McGinnis asks. "It means routines and procedures are in place, students know the expectations and they know what happens if you don't meet the expectations, and differentiated instruction to meet each students learning needs, that could be whole group, small group, one on one instruction, stations, or projects."
McGinnis adds that it's even just going back to simple practices learned in teachers' college education courses with things such as greeting students at the door.