NHHS has been working to reduce the number of chronically absent students. School principal Mr. Brian Pawlicki says, “Students who are considered chronically absent miss 18 days of school, or more. That’s ten percent of the school year.” He added that this number does not include excused absences.
The school has put in place new attendance incentives to keep students interested in going to school. Government teacher Mrs. Jessica Siegel says, “last school year, we had a chronic absence rate of 21%. 21% of students missed 18 days or more. So, this year, we are creating ways to get students to come to school. This could include small raffle prizes, up to larger class size rewards.”
Siegel also talked about letting grade groups decide what they want, such as sports or Homecoming tickets to freshmen and sophomores, or prom tickets or discounts to juniors and seniors. The goal is to make an incentive so students are wanting and willing to go to school.
After the first quarter, the attendance numbers provided by attendance secretary Mrs. Kayla Harmon indicated that the sophomore class had the best overall attendance rate at 93.53%, with 64 students with perfect attendance. Overall, the school has 95.25% average attendance rate for the whole quarter. The daily attendance rate for grades this quarter were as follows: 92.95 % for freshmen, 93.53% for sophomores, 93.51% for juniors, and 92.89% for seniors.
Pawlicki said that, “attendance affects the availability of a senior to do part time or do college classes at HCC, and even having tuition paid.” Pawlicki also mentions how for seniors, attendance matters the most; it can help with college and tuition. However, out of every grade level, they have the worst attendance.
One of the main problems the school has are half-day seniors not coming to school on half-days or Hawk Soar days. This is because Hawk Soar is on half-days, so it takes up time from other classes. Therefore, half-day seniors will only be at school for about 50 minutes.
Siegel comments that if discounted prom tickets are the way to get the juniors and seniors to get to school, she “will make sure for future incentives we think about that.” Siegel also adds that seniors and juniors are the main motivation, since they are more likely to skip or miss out on classes due to the resources they have at hand, or senior-itis to leave school.”
