Aside from the financial aspects related to a school district obtaining funds for each student in school every day, when a student is absent and not in the classroom, it is a day of learning that cannot usually be made up and that is the primary focus of the Clinton County School District continually stressing the need for high attendance and keeping students in school throughout the school year.

Part of the duties of a Director of Pupil Personnel is to work with all schools in the district to keep attendance rates as high as possible and make sure students are in the classroom to get the education they deserve.

DPP Julie York noted early this week that although the Clinton County Schools have slowly but steadily shown some improvement over the past few years, there is still a ways to go to reach the district goal of 94.5 percent overall attendance.

Every year, each school also sets its own personal goals for attendance. In the most current year passed, 2014-15, overall attendance was 93.93 percent Average Daily Attendance–which was down .04 of a percent from the previous year of 93.97 percent.

York called the 94.5 percent goal somewhat ‘lofty’ but one she feels the district can meet. Last year, both the Early Childhood Center and Albany Elementary set yearly goals of 94.5 percent, while Clinton Middle School set a goal of 94 percent and the high school at 93 percent. At the end of the year, there was some good news, with both Albany Elementary and Clinton Middle School exceeding their goals, with AES having a year-end rate of 94.98 percent and the middle school exactly 94 percent.

On the flip side, the Early Childhood Center fell short, being at 93.69 percent and CCHS 91.96 percent average ADA.

York noted that each year, the school system as a whole, as well as individual schools work on programs and initiatives to raise attendance and keep it up.

The Kona-Ice program, especially among younger grades, has been very popular. That company visits each school with the highest attendance once a month and also gives away free icees to students with perfect attendance. They split the proceeds with the school district, which in turn uses the money to fund incentives such as ipad give-aways, bike give-aways, etc. to students who obtain perfect attendance.

Other local businesses such as Sonic and McDonald’s also donate free food gift cards in support of incentives for good attendance.

The overall 93.93 percent attendance last year was rated an “eight” out of 10 by York, as it was less than six tenths of a percent from hitting the 94.5 percent goal.

A new program that York feels will be a huge boost for the district in the coming 2015-16 school year–not only for health reasons but helping in attendance is well–is the in-house walk-in clinic program that will be available at each school. The district is partnering with Cumberland Family Medical to provide a nursing program that will allow students to receive treatment on site at each school, which could in turn keep them in school instead of having to miss class to visit a doctor’s office.

That program will allow school nurses to dispense medication and make diagnosis and include follow-ups and checkups, etc. Being allowed to medically treat a student in school may also mean a parent won’t have to take off work to pick up a child who can be treated while in school.

“There are a lot of students who have to miss school due to legitimate illness,” said York, noting the in-house clinic program could be of great benefit to students, parents and schools alike.

In reflecting back on the last school year, which saw an abnormally harsh winter, York said a lot of continued illness, played a part in attendance not being higher that what it probably would have been. She noted also that even on some days when school was in session, there were some back roads (due to snow and ice) that still weren’t assessable, preventing some students from attending.

Another new program that takes effect with this school year, actually becoming law this past July 1, is Senate Bill 97 which requires all Kentucky students be enrolled in school until they are 18 years of age — compared to the past which was 16 years of age drop-out limit.

“I think that law will help attendance and it sets a precedence for how important it is for students and teenagers to remain in school and get a degree,” York said.

The school district also works closely with Clear Creek Academy, which helps students at risk of dropping out or failing courses to catch up and stay in school, while still obtaining and learning core courses needed for high school graduation and career readiness.

York said another new implementation this year would be attendance reports listed on the school district’s web page with a link for parents about student attendance, attendance policies, rules, and so forth.

Parents of any student who has three unexcused absences will be sent a letter and anyone who has four, the parents will receive a phone call. In extreme cases of truancy, parents could be taken to court. Last year, there were about 20 cases of this occurring.

York continued that although the high school needed improvement in its attendance percentages, the situation wasn’t really different from a lot of other high schools that also see lower attendance for various reasons, such as students being of age to have driver’s licenses, etc. She said CCHS would have in place this year a policy pertaining to good attendance in order to keep student driving privileges.

York concluded by saying she thought the school district “was on the right track” as far as school attendance and by working together, they would continue to climb.