With attendance directly tied to student achievement, Ector County ISD Superintendent Scott Muri said it is essential that children attend school.
Texas is a compulsory attendance state where students must attend until high school graduation, or until age 21. First semester of this year, attendance was at 90 percent due to COVID-19. It is a little more than 90 percent currently, Muri said.
The state considers 96 percent a healthy attendance rate.
“In this country, we have a tremendous opportunity for a free and public education and the only way we receive that is if we engage in it … A large body of research says that the more our children are present in school, the more successful they will be. We’ve seen that over time, not just in our districts, but across the country,” Muri said.
“Attendance directly ties to overall student achievement and it’s critical. As a school district, we want every child that we serve to be incredibly well prepared for life. The only way we can do that is if we engage them in the educational process. For most of our kids, that means coming to school face to face,” he added.
He said there are some students still learning virtually, but they still have to log in and engage.
Muri said the first semester of school this year really hurt because COVID was so pervasive. Many students were out of school for extended periods or quarantined.
“… That affected our attendance across the system — elementary, middle and high school. Now COVID has significantly subsided and so our kids can be physically present again. We’ve seen an increase in attendance in the second semester. However, within the first semester, we were right around 90% .. For our district, that’s low,” Muri said.
He observed that during the pandemic people got out of the habit of sending their children to school five days a week.
“… We see that across our state. Many districts are struggling to get families back into the five-day a week school cycle. It may take us the rest of this year and into next year before our families remember that school is five days a week and those Fridays and Mondays that sometimes we take off for a long weekend are rather harmful to our kids,” Muri said.
The district’s baseline goal for attendance in 2019 was 93.5%.
“… Our goal is to up (that) by five tenths of a percent each year. So this year, or in the 2021 school year, our attendance was 94%. That was the goal. This year we’re at 94.5% and then next year, we hope to be at 95%. But … these goals were made before COVID,” Muri said.
“We ended last year at 92.6%. The goal was 94. We ended with 92.6. COVID clearly had an effect this year. Again, our goal is 94.5 and right now, with what happened in the first semester, we’re at 90.7. So it will be very difficult for us to attain that goal this year, because of the first semester,” he added.
Encouraging students to return to school starts at home, he said.
“… Our moms and dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, whoever the guardians are of children, it really starts with them. … We’re a compulsory attendance state. It’s a requirement and so the guardians, the parents of our children, have the primary responsibility to make sure that kids are in school. Legally, they’re responsible for that,” Muri said.
“Our part of that is to make sure that school is an engaging place for kids. We have to make sure that they want to be there. It should be interesting; it should be inviting; it should be welcoming for students. …,” he added.
School also should be purposeful for students — a place where children can clearly see the purpose of their education and how their education will help them become successful with whatever they choose to pursue as an adult, Muri said.
“We collaborate with parents. Sometimes a parent may struggle to get a child to school and sometimes we see that in middle school or high school. We provide services. Our counselors will help parents with some tools that would assist them in getting their kids to school. We do the same thing at the high school level; our counselors and social workers providing tools to parents to help them figure out how to make sure that their kids are in school every day,” Muri said.
“… At the end of the day, it is a legal requirement for parents to make sure that their kids are in school. Again, we’re a compulsory state. So a variety of ways are things that we have to do from a school perspective, but most of this is the parent making sure that the kid is at school every day,” he added.
General education students are required to be in school until they graduate high school, or until they are 21.
He noted that ECISD has a variety of programs to help keep children in school.
“… Our social workers are available to help and support parents. If they are struggling to get their kids to come to school, we do that. Counselors … at each of our schools are available for parents to help them,” he said.
When students become truant, counselors will meet with the students one-on-one to talk about the issues they may be facing.
“Sometimes children are truant because the family needs them to work, so it could be a financial situation. Our social workers can help connect families to community organizations to ensure that kids can still come to school. That there can be a variety of reasons. Sometimes mental health issues get in the way; sometimes motivation gets in the way, but our counselors and social workers (are really) the front line to help a lot of these kids and families ensure that they’re successful at their school attendance,” Muri said.
Texas funds its schools based on a daily attendance rate.
“I don’t like to tie kids to money. But … yes, that is how we are funded in Texas, so a low attendance rate affects opportunities for students. … But I think the bigger reason for me personally to advocate for attendance of our kids is the tie to success. The data are very clear. When kids are regularly attending school, they will be more successful in school and i.e., more successful in life so that’s the primary message that I think we need to send,” he said.
