Attendance is a topic students and teachers across CVHS have been hearing and talking about a lot more recently. Teachers have shown increasing frustration with students coming in late, almost all of Dr. Healey’s Wildcat Weekly newsletters have had some mention of attendance in it, and emails are being sent to parents asking them to make sure their children get to school on time each day. Why is that? What are the consequences of inconsistent attendance not only for an individual student, but CVHS as a whole? Are there any solutions to this problem? Administrators and staff at CVHS have been able to provide answers.

First off, what is chronic absenteeism? Chronic absenteeism is whenever a student misses at least 10% of the school year (18 days). Currently, CVHS sits around a 19.3% absenteeism rate, making up for 455 students who are chronically absent. In contrast, Westfield and Chantilly High School have a 15-15.7% absenteeism rate. An average of 300 students get marked for skipping class each day. It’s most common for ROAR and Plus periods to be skipped along with 1st or 2nd period.

The causes for inconsistent attendance varies from student to student (mental health issues, family problems, sickness, etc) but it is evident that Covid has played a role. Due to the pandemic, students have started to feel as if school is optional and parents have been more laid back whenever it comes to letting their child stay home. It’s also how classwork is mostly online so that students are able to not attend class but still graduate.

Obviously, being absent from class will have a negative impact on a student’s grade, but it also will have a negative impact on CVHS overall. “Looking at CVHS as a whole, in order for the school to stay in good standing with the state of Virginia, schools must end the year with an absenteeism rate under 15%,” the Systems of Support Advisor, Ms. Senior said, “so if CVHS does not stay below 15% for multiple years in a row, the state could put restrictions on the school or give us the label of ‘accredited with conditions’ meaning they would take a more direct role in the efforts going on to improve attendance here.”

Now, the principal of CVHS Dr. Erik Healey has talked about solutions for chronic absenteeism, “As you’ve seen, there has been a strong communication effort with students and families through my weekly newsletter, The Wildcat Weekly. Also, as a staff we began our START on Time initiative in the middle of February. Since the beginning of that initiative, tardies have decreased by 5%, and we still have a long way to go.” Assistant principal Mrs. Bromberg followed up on what the “START on Time” initiative was, “In this program, school staff are walking tardy students to class and clearing the hallways after the bell has rang.” 

It is important for students to come to class on time as often as possible; not only for themselves but for the entire CVHS community. It is also important for students to try and create a welcoming environment that’ll encourage their peers to come to class too.