Lack of student attendance causes concern

Fast Fact

Everyday, Major Terry Zuber, ROTC teacher, walks into a classroom with about 10-20% of her students missing each hour.

“School is your job as a student and your grades are your paycheck,” Major Zuber said. “No matter what you pursue in your future, this is your framework.”

There are no disciplinary consequences for excused absences, making skipping school easy for students with complying parents. Credit suspensions for absences were discontinued several years ago due to the students who receive high grades, even with low attendance.

“We want our kids to be successful, and at what point does the teacher say ‘hey if you continue to choose to be late, I can’t help you’,” Major Zuber said.

Principal Dr. Steve Hankins said attendance at MHS is low for last year, around 92%, and statistically, that takes into account some of last semester/year pre-COVID. He said this rate is up to par with all the other high schools in the district.

Dr. Hankins said the National Security Education Program (NSEP) is an educational program in which MHS has received accreditation. MHS has continued to participate in the program to earn the accreditation with distinction. Only small schools have reached it because of their small population.

One part of the accreditation with distinction is attendance. The score is determined by if students have attended all their classes in a day, 90% of the time. The rate is determined by how many people attend school in one day. Dr. Hankins also said attendance may be low because teachers provide more

Evan Berkel, freshman, checks out of school early due to illness. This year, attendance has been low for every grade level and high school across the district, Principal Dr. Steve Hankins said. Photograph by Cassie Sun online resources as a result of the pandemic, which allows students to catch up outside of class.

“So if you’re a kid, well, it’s easier to miss school,” Dr. Hankins said. “It’s good for those kids that are sick. We want to reduce their anxiety, but at the same time, there are some kids realizing that they can miss a day or two without impact.”

Attendance is important for students, Dr. Hankins said, because it can impact grades and mental health.

There are incentives for good attendance such as the A+ Program that offers scholarships for good attendance that can be used at local community

Freshmen 93.9%

• Sophomores 92.77%

Juniors 91.9%

• Seniors 91.2%

The average attendance for the entire school is 92.37% this year. The breakdown for each class is below: Information from MHS registrar colleges and some other colleges on report cards because attendance is shown through the grades.

Brooke Lawson, senior, usually leaves school early or takes mental health days.

“I’ve left school early a few times because I find that I just can’t get my work done, and I struggle to get it done at home,” Lawson said. “So I like to go to restaurants, and I find I can just crank out all my work.”

Because it’s her senior year, her absences have only affected her food class and human anatomy class, and she makes up labs when she misses.

Junior Principal Amy Sturges said students can’t replace the difference in learning in-person and online.

“As much as technology is awesome and things have evolved over the last couple of years, especially given everything in the past, you still can’t replace the teacher interaction and receiving that one-on-one feedback,” Sturges said.