Student absences remain high; data indicates slight improvement from 2021-22

Jul. 10—HAMLET — In the first school year that was largely unaffected by COVID-19, absences continued to pile up for Richmond County Schools students.

This academic year, RCS sent out 9,688 letters alerting families that their child had received 3, 5 or 10 unexcused absences. This was a decrease from the 2020-21 school year, when 12,201 letters were sent out. For comparison, from August 2019 to March 2020 (pre-pandemic), only 800 of these letters were sent out.

In 2021-22, 4,813 C-3 letters were sent out, which indicate 3 unexcused absences. There were 3,136 C-5 and 1,739 C-10 letters sent out.

Most of the letters were concentrated at the elementary level, with a little over 4,300. High school students received the least at 1,600, with middle schoolers around 3,400.

Dr. Wendy Jordan, director of student services, said that there are 6,600 students enrolled in RCS, not including pre-K. While it's possible for a student to receive multiple letters if an unexcused absence is erased, Jordan said it's accurate that around a quarter of students have missed at least 10 days of learning.

"More children are coming to school," Jordan said. "I'm happy to see that the number of letters are down. We're trying to work toward getting that back in a strong place."

In North Carolina, a student is considered "chronically absent" if they miss 10% of the school year, which is roughly 18 days in a typical 180 school day calendar.

At Richmond Senior High School last year, 315 students had missed over 50 days of school. Chronically absent student data is unavailable for this school year momentarily due to Powerschool, the school software system, being down for maintenance.

C-10 letter process

When a C-10 letter is mailed out, school social workers meet with the family to work on a plan. RCS has eight full-time and two part-time social workers.

"Sometimes it's as simple as setting up an alarm clock," Jordan said, adding that the conversation is about pinpointing what can be done to get children to school on time and connecting families with community resources.

Not every family who receives a C-10 letter ends up in court.

"More often than not, families are willing to work with social workers on a plan," Jordan stated.

If there's an act of "blatant defiance or non-compliance," that's when a petition is filed with the court. In North Carolina, there is compulsory student attendance for children ages 7 to 16.

Due to the pandemic, there was no threat of legal action during the 2020-21 school year in the letters that were sent out. This year, compulsory attendance was in effect.

Return to normalcy

RCS elementary students returned to the classroom in the fall of 2020. High schoolers returned that the spring of 2021. The universal masking policy was not lifted until March of 2022.

"This second semester was as close to normal as we've had in quite a while," Jordan said.

At a June 2021 board meeting, The Richmond County Board of Education unanimously approved a school-based mental health initiative with a goal of promoting student mental health and assessing the support systems for social-emotional health. It was unanimously agreed upon that students perform better when they're able to be in the classroom as opposed to virtual learning.

Still, some students have struggled with the return to the classroom.

"It's taken students a little longer to acclimate back into the school setting," Jordan said. "A lot of these children when [they were not in school], they were in charge of siblings or their family's work."

Moving forward, Jordan said it's imperative that students attend school, and that social workers now have a renewed focus on mental health post-virtual learning.

"I always told my students when I was a principal, you have two responsibilities — learn and behave," Jordan shared. "You can't do your job as a student if you're not here. Families need to make sure that their students are in school."

One of the easiest ways to alleviate the spike in absences is for a guardian to send a note to a teacher providing a rationale for the absence as soon as possible. School nurses can also be contacted by a parent regarding a question about an illness.

Schoolwide sporting events, assemblies and gatherings have returned in Richmond County without any COVID outbreaks. While the effects of virtual learning, the pandemic and universal masking will indelibly linger, there was much rejoicing when students weren't required to wear masks this spring.

"It was like a holiday the first week [without masks]," said Mary Grace Calhoun, a teacher at Cordova Middle School in March. "I think the students are happier, we're all just freer and you see their personalities come out."

"A sense of community and belonging is so very important," Jordan said. "That's what was devastating during COVID, so much isolation."

As a school district, Jordan said they will be focusing on middle schoolers who have been identified as chronically absent and arrange meetings between families and social workers. Jordan added that good attendance habits begin early, and that the student drop out rate and chronic absenteeism often go hand-in-hand.

The graduation and dropout rate for RSHS this year has not been finalized as of the first week of July. Jordan said the graduation rate will not be official until it's certified by the state board, and that ongoing summer school classes may alter the data.