Students are chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of the school year. That’s 18 days—nearly one month of instructional days—including excused and unexcused absences and suspensions. 

On Tuesday, Washoe County School District’s Board of Trustees heard from district administrators about efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism and its impacts. 

According to Paul LaMarca, the district’s chief student and family supports officer, students who were not chronically absent missed an average of around seven instructional days. Chronically absent students, however, missed an average of 32 instructional days. 

“When you miss instruction, you miss continuity, and you miss those ‘aha’ moments,” LaMarca said. “Every child we move from chronically absent to non-chronically absent, we are reclaiming 20-25 instructional days. That’s a lot of learning.” 

Chronic absenteeism is an ongoing problem nationwide. According to analysis from Johns Hopkins University and the education nonprofit Attendance Works, during the 2021-22 school year, 14.7 million students were chronically absent across the country. Experts at Attendance Works note that “children living in poverty are two to three times more likely to be chronically absent,” and students from communities of color and those with disabilities are far more affected. 

There has been a significant decrease in chronic absenteeism in WCSD since COVID-19, but the numbers remain high. During the 2020-21 school year, 39% of students were chronically absent, including nearly half of middle school students and nearly 60% of high school students. 

“The punitive approach is completely out of our heads. Now we ask, ‘What can we do for you to help you, to bring you back into school?’”

While those numbers have decreased, 26% of district students were chronically absent last year, with 39% of high school students missing a month or more of instructional time. 

However, to keep it in perspective, this does not mean that on any given day, a quarter of students are missing. Daily average attendance for this school year ranges between 92% and 96%. 

“Good news is, we’re making progress; bad news is, we’re nowhere near where we need to be when we look at pre-pandemic levels,” LaMarca said. 

Before the pandemic, an average of 17% of all students were chronically absent, which LaMarca said was still too high. 

Root causes 

“Half the battle is understanding the ‘why,’” Mike Paul, WCSD’s lead associate chief for elementary schools, said. “We talked to our students, our principals, and there definitely are themes across families.” 

When it comes to root causes, several issues contribute to chronic absenteeism, including unmet basic needs, poor mental health and academic frustration. 

Basic needs include transportation, housing instability, homelessness and family employment instability. 

Mental health concerns include anxiety, bullying and school-based fears. 

Academic frustration includes a cycle of disruptive behavior and the cumulative effect of missed instruction, i.e., a student who misses some school is more likely to continue missing because they fall behind. 

“Our truancy officers are doing a great job listening to families,” Paul said. “The punitive approach is completely out of our heads. Now we ask, ‘What can we do for you to help you, to bring you back into school?’ And that is the significant factor we are finding in bringing our families back in.”  

Paul said that when it comes to mental health, schools are increasing the number of mental health professionals available, with even more to come at the middle and elementary school levels. 

“We’re not where we want to be yet, but we’re working in that direction,” Paul said. 

Each student’s case will also be individualized, so communicating with families and asking what resources they need is so important, Paul said. 

Increasing attendance success stories 

According to Paul, there were several successes in reducing absenteeism last year. 

For example, 33 elementary schools, eight middle schools and four high schools reduced their absenteeism rates by more than 10%. Additionally, 40% of elementary schools are within 5% of their 2019 rates, with 16 achieving lower rates than the 2018-19 (pre-pandemic) school year. 

Middle and high schools saw more modest but still positive numbers, with four middle schools and three high schools within 5% of their 2019 rates and one high school achieving lower rates than the pre-pandemic year.

According to Rechelle Murillo, WCSD intervention department director, schools nationwide experienced “unprecedented rates” of chronic absenteeism during COVID-19, also reflected in Washoe County. However, Murillo said two district schools significantly rebounded this past year. 

Swope Middle School Assistant Principal Beth Martin said her school worked hard last year and continues to work hard this year to ensure chronic absenteeism continues to decrease. 

Martin said one way they are tackling absenteeism is through direct communication with families—even making sure each student is able to get to campus. 

“We have an amazing team that works with us to make sure kids are getting to school,” Martin said. “For students that are having a hard time getting to school, [the team] communicates with parents, goes to homes, picks them up, makes sure they have the resources they need when they get to school.

“We also focus a lot on strong customer service when students are coming to school. We make sure students are connected to clubs, and we’ve seen a great addition of sixth-grade sports this year,” she added.

“I can’t think of a thing sadder than a child missing out on getting educational time and advancing their knowledge, being part of a school community.”

Martin said an important aspect is ensuring that each student is connected to a trusted adult they can name when they’re in the building. This adult, in turn, checks in with the student consistently to ensure they have everything they need to be successful. 

Murillo also said she wanted to highlight the work of Jessica Wilson at Elmcrest Elementary School, which also saw a decrease in absenteeism. 

“[Wilson] took an intentional focus every single day to connect with students to welcome them back when they came,” Murillo said. “She built relationships with them, she did some climate work, and she worked with our team, too.” 

Trevor Hutton, attendance officer at Elmcrest, said the biggest thing they’ve seen that helps students is top-down leadership connecting students to resources they need to ensure every student’s voice is heard. 

“We understand if we want test scores to improve, what’s most important is getting kids into the building,” Hutton said. “Being there, ready to learn, to attain the most knowledge they can.”

Hutton said that Elmcrest succeeds in looking at each student’s situation on a case-by-case basis and coming to parents non-judgmentally so they can offer help. “Everybody in this room got into this to help kids, and when families understand that, they work with school leadership. Elmcrest is prioritizing those relationships, and we’re seeing the results,” he said. 

All but one trustee pleased with progress

Most trustees applauded the progress schools have made. Trustee Colleen Westlake pointed out that these results have come about after only six months of implementing a plan. 

“I can’t think of a thing sadder than a child missing out on getting educational time and advancing their knowledge, being part of a school community, being productive and feeling worthy,” Westlake said. “I am extremely proud of the district and our community for first realizing there is an issue and for working hard to do this heavy lift.” 

Trustee Jeff Church disagreed and said, “baby steps are not going to work,” and the decreases in absenteeism rates aren’t enough. Allowing unlimited absenteeism and restorative credit is the same thing as “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic,” he added. 

He suggested students need to have “a carrot and a stick,” and while punitive discipline is no longer considered the path forward, “maybe for some kids that don’t go to school because they don’t want to, that needs to be in our minds … that stick might be the right thing for the right kid.” One solution he offered is holding back students who have missed 50% or more days of instruction from moving to the next grade or graduating. “Graduation rates may go down, but attendance will go up,” he said.

Church said district leaders also need to encourage parents to attend school and be in the classroom. The district needs to provide more field trips to encourage students to attend school, whether it be trips to the ocean, farms or military bases, he said. 

He said he believes it will take 30 years for the district to get down “even to 15%” at the current rate. Coral Academy Charter School only has a 10% chronic absenteeism rate, Church said, indicating they “must be doing something right.” 

He added that even though Swope Middle School decreased absenteeism from 30% to 25%, 25% is still “outrageous for a middle school.”

District officials said they will continue to access data on the outcomes of actions taken and will hold monthly monitoring meetings with the Office of Accountability. 

In other items: 

– Trustees discussed the Draft Legislative Platform for the upcoming legislative session which begins Feb. 3, 2025. A draft was presented to trustees and included the major topics the district hopes to tackle this session: supporting local community, empowering district personnel, creating space for students to thrive and advocating for smart, strategic funding.  

– Trustees proclaimed September Hispanic Heritage Month in the Washoe County School District from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, and heard from several students and staff on the importance of recognizing Hispanic heritage within schools and the community. 

– Trustees also honored Constitution Day, which is Sept. 17, with celebrations occurring throughout the next week within district schools. This year marks the 237th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. 

– Trustees discussed energy and sustainability, which includes initiatives like using alternative fuels for school vehicles, recycling technology devices at no net cost, using reclaimed water for irrigation and using solar and geothermal energy.