The Deans’ Office has started sending emails to students, parents and guardians every four to five weeks due to a rise in student absences. 

“Over the last several years, attendance has become an issue in the district as well as throughout the area in the state,” said William Eike, assistant principal dean of students. “So a lot of districts are starting to put into play processes that are going to be proactive in helping to identify those students who are becoming chronically absent.” 

The emails include the number of days a student was absent compared to the school’s average number of absences for the entirety of the school year thus far. 

If parents or guardians were to get the email and be surprised by the number of absences, the people in the Deans’ Office’s hope is that they would reflect back as to why their student is missing school, then reach out to the school to try and work together to help the student become a more regular attendee, Eike said. 

The email plan has been in the works since the end of last school year as a part of a larger, multitiered student support system built to help identify students who have issues with attendance, behavior or social-emotional issues. 

“It’s a way of trying to be proactive and identifying students who might be starting to accumulate absences,” Eike said.