Schools may be past the pandemic and fully reopened, and truancy is still a significant problem. According to EdSource, the percentage of chronically absent students in California spiked from 12-percent during the 2018-2019 school year to 30-percent in 2021-2022. On KNCO: Insight”, Nevada Union High School principal Kelly Rhoden said they’re holding an Attendance Awareness Night for parents next Monday evening at 5:30 at the Don Baggett Theatre, among other proactive steps…

click to listen to Kelly Rhoden

Rhoden also indicated the academic consequences of missing classroom time too frequently are more severe than you may think…

click to listen to Kelly Rhoden

Chronic absence is defined as missing 10-percent or more of the school year. For students on a typical 180-day calendar, that’s about one-fifth of missed school. A variety of factors are attributed to the issue. That ranges from difficulty accessing consistent transportation, the emotional and economic fallout of pandemic-related deaths, and increased anxieties around the safety of attending school in person.