Data from the past two years shows that chronic absenteeism numbers are dropping in USD 379.
According to the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE), being chronically absent means a student is missing 10 percent or more of school, for both excused and unexcused reasons. For example, in a typical 180-day school year, this means missing 18 or more days, or about two days per month.
In 2023-24, the Kansas state average of students who were chronically absent was 19.77 percent. In USD 379, that percentage was at 11.48 percent, a more than 8 percent difference.
In 2022-23, the state average was at 21.82 percent, and USD 379 was at 12.80 percent, a difference of 9 percent.
The data wasn’t always good. In 2021-22, USD 379 had a chronically absent rate of almost 20 percent. It was then that district leaders developed a team of counselors and administrators to tackle the issue. They worked with parents and students and developed plans to address the issue on a 1:1 basis. This helped drop the percentage by almost 7 percent in just one year.
This same team still meets monthly to discuss up-to-date attendance data and what can be done to help students and families on an individual basis with chronic absenteeism.