Lea este articulo en español aquí.
Attendance rates at Hollister High School are showing signs of improvement since returning from distance learning in the 2021-22 school year, according to Emmanuel Nelson, director of student services for the San Benito High School District.
At the district’s April 23 board meeting, Nelson and Bret Painter, director of information, reported that this semester’s attendance has seen a 0.54% increase over the fall semester, which was 92.74%. This is the highest attendance rate since the fall 2021 semester when students returned to in-person learning.
“Since we’ve come back from COVID, we’ve always had this trend where the first semester has always been higher than the second semester in attendance,” Painter said. “For the first time since we’ve been keeping track, we have a flip where we see the second semester is actually higher.”
This year’s school attendance average is also 0.52% higher than the 2022-23 school year, which was 92.96%. Painter said this “is the best that we’ve done up to this time of the year.”
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C225&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C585&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506.jpg?resize=780%2C585&ssl=1″ alt=”” class=”wp-image-100321″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1536&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1 800w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C150&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C1176&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1500&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C529&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/benitolink.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_0506-1024×768.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
According to the California Department of Education, 53% of the absences in the 2022-23 school year were excused. Those absences were due to illness, doctor’s appointment, funeral services, mourning of a direct family member or religious holidays/celebrations. The remaining absences were unexcused (36.8%), out-of-school suspensions (2.4%) and independent study absences (7.9%).
Nelson said he believes the change is the result of “a series of different interventions,” such as the use of slogans, home letters, attendance contracts and home visits to specific students. The use of multiple interventions is referred to as a “Swiss cheese model,” Nelson said.
“None of these implementations were perfect in and of themselves,” he said. “But our focus was to have low-level efforts that could be sustained. And we’re seeing that pay off.”
Nelson said he and three teachers will analyze the reasons behind Friday absences. The teachers will survey 220 students who regularly miss school on Fridays during Haybaler Support Time to identify the reasons, then the school will implement the most suitable types of interventions.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. It is expensive to produce local news and community support is what keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service, nonprofit news.
