Although the chronic absenteeism rate in the Petal School District was slightly higher last school year than it was the previous year, the latest numbers show the district’s rate is still much lower than the statewide average.
According to numbers from the Mississippi Department of Education, the Petal School District had a chronic absenteeism rate – defined as missing 10 percent or 18 days of the school year for any reason – of 11.32 percent in the 2017-18 school year, up from 10.6 percent during the 2017-17 school year. Both instances are lower than the state’s rate, which was 16.86 percent in 2017-18 and 14.15 percent in 2016-17.
Matt Dillon, superintendent of the Petal School District, said the numbers are especially important, given that attendance is one of the school’s three main focuses, along with social/emotional issues and advanced programs.
“So to get this data from the last couple of years from the state level, and see how our efforts are being represented in these numbers, I’m very proud of that,” he said. “What I’m most proud of is the principals, counselors, teachers – all the staff that works with these students has a story behind our students.
“They check on them, they care about them, they want to know when they’re absent so that we can know they reason and assist in any way possible. There’s going to be times when students can’t be present because of circumstances outside of their control, but these numbers represent a lot to me in that these numbers represent students.”
Broken down into individual students, the district had 493 students in the chronic absenteeism category in 2017-18, including 130 at Petal Primary School, 38 at Petal Elementary School, 62 at Petal Upper Elementary School, 106 at Petal Middle School and 157 at Petal High School. In the 2016-17 school year, those numbers were 463 students district-wide, with 87 at Petal Primary School, 45 at Petal Elementary School, 58 at Petal Upper Elementary School, 89 at Petal Middle School and 238 at Petal High School.
“These students are being looked after very carefully, and we’re making sure to foster positive relationships with parents,” Dillon said. “I also think these numbers show that parents are buying in to what we do – they understand the importance of education, they understand the importance of school, and they’re doing their part as well to ensure that our kids are here as much as possible during the 180-day school calendar that we have.”
Statewide, the chronic absenteeism rate by grade for the 2017-18 school year is as follows: 16.7 percent for kindergarten, 12.7 percent for 1st grade, 11.38 percent for 2nd grade, 10.4 percent for 3rd grade, 10.88 percent for 4th grade, 11.29 percent for 5th grade, 13.16 percent for 6th grade, 15.95 percent for 7th grade, 17.27 percent for 8th grade, 21.61 percent for 9th grade, 24.28 percent for 10th grade, 26.12 percent for 11th grade and 34.52 percent for 12th grade.
Dillon said Petal’s numbers may actually be more positive for the district than they appear, because chronic absenteeism includes students that move from the Petal School District to another district.
“They’re still counted absent at those districts, so it also comes back and reflects on our (numbers), so really that’s outside of our control,” he said. “If you really look at the students that stay with us here in our district over time, our numbers are really lower than what’s being represented on this chronic absenteeism report.
“Also, we can’t forget that we have so many extracurricular activities in our district, and when students feel connected, and their families feel like their students are getting a quality education, then they feel more comfortable sending their kids to school.”
