Only 1 in 3 North Thurston district students regularly attended school last year, stats show
The long arm of the COVID-19 pandemic and its disruptive effect on learning continues to be felt in the North Thurston Public Schools, which serves about 14,000 students.
That’s according to an attendance update that the school board heard Tuesday evening.
Although the district has shown some improvement since the pandemic, only 33% of students were regularly attending school at the end of the 2023-24 school year, according to data shared at the meeting.
A student who regularly attends school is missing fewer than nine days of the school year, according to the district. An “at risk” student is missing between nine and 17 days, and a chronically absent student is missing 18 or more days of the 180-day school year.
At the end of the 2023-24 school year, the district data looked like this:
▪ Regularly attending: 33%.
▪ At risk: 30.4%.
▪ Chronically absent: 36.5%.
North Thurston Public Schools is not alone as school districts across the state and country have experienced a similar trend in chronic absenteeism following the pandemic.
During the outbreak, schools shifted to online learning only, then embraced a hybrid approach of at-home and in-person learning before students and teachers finally returned to their classrooms full time.
Immediately before the pandemic of 2020-21, more than 54% of North Thurston students regularly attended school, district data show. Immediately after, the number plunged to 25%, but that has improved in succeeding years to 30% and finally 33%.
The at-risk and chronically absent data have fluctuated in a similar pattern since the 2020-21 school year. The numbers were relatively low, then spiked and have gradually come down.
About the data: The district holds itself to a different standard than the state does, said Sarah Rich, assistant superintendent of instructional services.
“We’re counting every class,” she said. “So if a student misses, for example, first period every day for six days in a row, it looks like a day of absence to us, because it’s six out of 36 possible periods. So it’s like a whole day. The state only looks at whole days, so the student who misses two periods, but is there for four periods, they’re counted as present.”
“We hold ourselves to a really high standard,” Rich added.
The Olympian reported on the district’s chronic absenteeism in January. One strategy the district embarked on, at least for the youngest learners, was to be more welcoming. That will continue, said Stephanie Weinheimer, director of student achievement.
“So the greeting students at the door and having that welcoming environment is a standard that we’re continuing into this year,” she said. “We’re really making sure students feel a sense of belonging and connection to the school and to the staff. It helps them want to come to school and feel like they have a family at school that cares for them and wants to see them succeed.”
School board president Gretchen Maliska asked a series of questions about the numbers: How are the goals for increased attendance different from last year? Is the district dealing with this on a building-by-building basis? Are schools having friendly competitions?
“There are some schools that are holding family pizza nights and engaging families,” Weinheimer said.
She added staff want to have more detailed conversations with marginalized student groups and hear from them and their families.
The district also wants to better meet the needs of military families, she said.
“And then just kind of diving in group by group, and really hearing from them, just to be a little more targeted, to better understand,” Weinheimer said.
Rich added: “It’s really just going to be a question of fine-tuning our approach, continuing outreach to individual kids, individual families, and working on the barriers.”
This story was originally published September 4, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
