In the workforce and in our daily lives, it’s easy for fatigue to find a home.
But this early in the school year — and directly after Fall Break, no less — is less than ideal.
During last Thursday’s Trigg County School Board session, Director of Personnel and Student Services James Mangels iterated concerns of a district lagging in late-fall attendance…and not necessarily because of COVID-19 quarantines, which do not count as truancy cases.
Mangels said the campus is experiencing a running attendance average of 92%, which is four percent lower than previous measures in past years. He added these are the kinds of numbers the schools experience directly after Christmas break — where families and their children are naturally slower to get back into routine.
In a type of response, Mangels and several contingents at each of the four schools have recently met to discuss options on how to improve.
Mangels added that Trigg County typically ends its school years around the 93% mark, so to be there now is somewhat alarming. But instead of his visits, Mangels said the approach has been to contact those students with five or more unexcused absences already, and solve needs.
Large attendance teams will meet quarterly, while smaller school teams will meet once a month, and all in order to help improve attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism.
With roughly 2,000 students enrolled at Trigg County this year, 92% attendance equates to about 160 students contributing to chronic absenteeism district-wide — which Mangels said had a negative impact on multiple levels.
Trigg County’s next scheduled break comes at Thanksgiving: November 24-26.
