Attendance Matters

Every day a student is absent is a lost opportunity for learning. Too many absences can not only affect achievement for the absent student, but can also disrupt learning for the entire class. Because attendance is so critical for student academic success, the Washington Elementary School District is proud to launch our #AttendanceMattersWESD campaign to help improve student attendance in all 33 schools.

By bringing awareness to the issue of chronic absenteeism, and providing information and resources to parents, WESD is committed to increasing student attendance district-wide while supporting student achievement.

Information on this page is used with permission from Attendance Works.

What is Chronic Absenteeism?

Across the country, more than 8 million students are missing so many days of school that they are academically at risk. Chronic absence — missing 10 percent or more of school days due to absence for any reason—excused, unexcused absences and suspensions, can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third-grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school.

There’s a lot of information for students to learn and instruction begins when the bell rings. It’s very important that students are in their seats at the scheduled start of the school day. There are three start times in WESD – 7:30 a.m., 8:15 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Families play a vital role in setting expectations for good attendance and tracking their child’s absences. If there are barriers to getting children to school on time, please work with your child’s school for possible solutions.