Here Together, All Day, Every Day Harrisonville School Attendance Campaign 5 years ago campaign was Be Here when we focused on attendance our students attended more. , Here Together more collaborative- A community challenge

Our Reality... Last year, 326 Harrisonville students were chronically absent. That was almost 1 in 5 students. The breakdown by building was as follows: ECC - 14 HES - 40 McEowen - 32 HMS - 74 HHS - 166 2017-18 school year received 75% of APR attendance points. Got us looking at why. Leadership Team in agreement students need to be present to learn. Simple as that. Looking at our data we had 18%, almost 1 in 5 of our students district wide miss over 18 days, at high school level it was 24% or 1 in 4 students chronically absent. 326 students total chronically absent.

We developed a campaign to partner with families and community - #HVHereTogether Internal Communication: Key Messages: We all need to be involved, “What can I do, what’s my role?” We need to keep attendance on the forefront and in our conversations. What are we doing to do this?How does entire school community play a role in this? How are we celebrating attendance successes? How are we connecting with chronic absentees? Critical Component 2 audience groups to communicate with External and Internal … We started with internal communication sharing the numbers, Here Together

External Messages: Key Messages: When a student is absent, he/she misses the best opportunity for learning - in the classroom with his/her teacher. We want all our students to succeed which means helping them be in school each day by teaching good attendance habits for life, supporting parents, and developing relationships. We want to partner with our parents and community to come up with ways to decrease student absences. We want you HERE! HERE is where it’s at. HERE for success, HERE to grow

Window clings for businesses- school leaders went out to local businesses and Rotary/Kiwanis/Lions clubs- sharing the message of where we are at #s wise and what are goal is. Why attendance matters at school and relating that to their business. Asking them that when they speak with our students they bring up the importance of attendance.

Social Media Blitz -Daily Facebook and Twitter Posts Sept. 3 September is Attendance Awareness Month. When a student is absent, he/she misses the best opportunity for learning - in the classroom with his/her teacher. Over the next few weeks, we will be posting statistics, links to resources, tips, and much more to ensure everyone understands how attendance can impact a student's ability to succeed beginning in kindergarten and continuing throughout his/her life. This is a team effort; everyone who touches our students’ lives has a role to play. We want all our students to succeed which means helping them be in school each day by focusing on relationships, teaching good attendance habits for life, supporting parents, and partnering with the community. #HVHereTogether Research shows that chronic absenteeism can cause students to fall behind academically. Students chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade. By 6th grade, chronic absence is a proven early warning sign for students at risk for dropping out of school. By 9th grade, good attendance can predict graduation rates even better than 8th grade test scores. https://docs.google.com/document/d/141wOh5frYBOX-ld7SUrHADZY0DhQBTaPnVNqsDwQuLA/edit #HVHereTogether

Thursday & Friday, October 18-19 (four-day weekend) Sept. 6 The district’s attendance goal is that 90% of students will be at school 90% of the time. We realize some absences are unavoidable due to health problems or other circumstances. Therefore, we encourage parents to plan ahead when possible. Avoid scheduling vacations or doctor’s appointments when school is in session. And if you have to schedule an appointment during a school day, please try to only take your child out of school for the actual appointment. To assist with family scheduling, here’s a list of dates during which school is out and could be used for doctor/dental appointments and vacations. Friday, October 12 (½ day for students - end of quarter) Thursday & Friday, October 18-19 (four-day weekend) Wednesday, Nov. 21-Monday, Nov. 26 (Thanksgiving Break) Friday, December 21 (½ day for students - end of quarter) Monday, December 24-Wednesday, Jan. 2 (Winter Break) Monday, January 21 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) Monday & Tuesday, January 28-29 (four-day weekend) Monday, February 18 (President’s Day) Friday, March 8 (½ day for students - end of quarter) Monday, March 18-Friday, March 22 (Spring Break) Thursday & Friday, April 18-19 (four-day weekend) #HVHereTogether Continuing target messaging through parent emails, newsletters, social media throughout the year - for example, once we start seeing attendance drop from sickness, sending out reminders about how to stay healthy; reminding them about breaks & scheduling appointments/vacations

What else are we doing…. Individual School Attendance Tracking Cass County Education Court- diversionary program HHS attendance policy must be above 90% to participate in extracurricular events Internal culture building- Celebrate Monday, High 5 Fridays… Jill Filer Director of Communications jill.filer@harrisonvilleschools.org Dan Erholtz dan.erholtz@harrisonvilleschools.org