Creative ideas help boost attendance
All of the district’s seven schools have systems in place to support its students, which include alerting parents, meetings with counselors, reviews, and, if needed, home visits. The district posts a graphic on its social media showing the weekly attendance percentage rate at all seven schools.
The district formed a committee that consists of staff from across its schools to find ways to strengthen attendance. As part of its Chronic Absenteeism Team, district social workers have met with groups, including Cayuga County Mental Health, Child Protective Services and others. The district has met with Cayuga County legislators and Auburn City Council members to discuss ways to improve attendance.
Attendance is emphasized, especially at the elementary level, where they are trying new ways to improve rates.
As part of its plans to improve attendance, Genesee Elementary partnered sixth graders with kindergarteners to hold both groups accountable since those two grades typically have the highest absence rates.
“The little student looks forward to coming to school to be with their older student,” said Genesee Principal Mary Claire Pineau. “They have breakfast together. They have a check-in chart that the sixth graders do in the kindergarten (classroom), which has seen positive results in kindergarten attendance. We're happy about that.”
Pineau said Genesee’s attendance rate is on target to match last year’s, but she wants it to be higher.
“We've put a few more things in place this year,” she said. “We are working with families more closely. We have a set plan. We’re focused on engaging families so we can improve attendance because a barrier is getting parents to understand how important it is for the kids to be here regularly and not miss days at all, unless they are actually sick.”
Genesee started posting videos on TikTok and Facebook to show why it’s important to be in school.
“We are pushing our social media campaign, it’s a big thing this year,” Pineau said. We’re trying to engage families on that platform, breaking down some of the stigma or hesitation that parents have about connecting with school if they're having issues (getting their child to school). We have gotten an overwhelmingly positive response. We're surprised at how many people and followers we've gained on our platforms just because we're putting out fun videos.”
Genesee also holds dance parties every Friday. Posters encouraging attendance are posted throughout the school, and Pineau stresses attendance on the morning announcements.
“The kids look forward to that. Fridays are our best attendance days, which is a good change from last year,” she said. “We have a 92% attendance goal that we talk about every morning on the announcements, so the kids know exactly where we were the day before. They know our percentages, they know where their grade level sits, and they know the classrooms that had perfect attendance. We review it every single morning.”
Casey Park Elementary is also trying some new ideas this year to improve its attendance, including peer groups.
“Each classroom has set a goal for how many perfect attendance days they could have,” said Principal Brianne Batis. “It helps with students holding each other accountable, which is nice. So if a child isn't out sick, their peers are saying, ‘We want perfect attendance, where are you?’”
Casey Park has started an occasional raffle where five students from each grade win a small prize.
“The kids that win are really excited,” Batis said. “I think the nice thing is, we've had kids who’ve had almost perfect attendance winning, but we've also had kids who have had attendance interventions win. That's another positive reinforcement for them to come to school every day.”
Little things can make a big difference. One student, who was chronically absent last school year, had perfect attendance in October and said the raffle motivated them. Another said being part of their peer group played a key role in their being in school.
Like Genesee, Batis announces grade-level attendance to increase awareness.
“We have people talking about it more, our goals and pop-up days, highlighting it during our assemblies,” she said. “I think students and teachers are talking about attendance and bringing more awareness to it. I feel that's helpful.”
The success stories are nice, but the district will always continue to seek ways to improve attendance.
“We are looking for the magic answer to attendance,” Pineau said. “We are open to any feedback, and we are willing to try anything. We have an awesome team and staff; they do a lot of individual work with kids. Everybody at Genesee wants to see the kids here every single day, and we want to build relationships with them.”
Christopher Sciria / AECSD Public Information Specialist
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