We have all been concerned about the possible outbreak of H1N1 in our schools and homes. I am pleased to share that even though the school district has had a few confirmed cases, we have not been hit with a widespread H1N1 epidemic. One of the reasons for the limited spread of H1N1 and the typical seasonal influenza is that parents of sick children have worked with us to make sure their child is not attending school if they are running a fever and that they stay home for at least 24 hours after the fever is gone. Please know that we appreciate your support and cooperation in making sure that we maintain a healthy environment for our students and employees.
Additional information about what to do if your child needs to miss school can be found in the Parent-Student Handbook. You can view a copy of this handbook by visiting the district's website at http://troy30c.org. (Click on the Parent Handbook link under the school information menu at the top of the page.)
My concern that we might experience widespread absences created a need for me to start looking more closely at the daily attendance of our students. Overall, Troy has had a very good average daily attendance rate. In fact, the attendance rate for the past twelve years has exceeded the state's average daily attendance rate.
While we did experience a spike of absences in early October, the overall number of absences has not exceeded what is considered normal for this time of year. However, the review of attendance data on a daily basis has given me some new observations that I wanted to share.
I do not know the reason as to why, but it seems that attendance improves Monday through Thursday but then declines on Friday. It may not seem like much, but the difference between the low of 5.3% of the students being absent on Thursday to the high of 6.5% of the students being absent on Monday is worth investigating and sharing. We had 4,441 students enrolled on November 17, 2009. That means that on average 235 students are absent on Thursdays. In contrast, we have an additional 64 (289) students absent from school on Mondays.
Suffice to say that there is a direct correlation between student achievement and attendance. With this said, it is critical that every student be at school every day if they are healthy.
Please understand that I am not encouraging any student or employee to come to school ill. However, the need for tracking student attendance brought an opportunity for me to share some limited observations that may improve our ability to work toward better student attendance - which will in turn increase our ability to maximize learning opportunities for all students.
