At their regular meeting on Sept. 7, Roseburg School Board directors adopted Resolution 22-23-09 joining school districts across the nation in declaring the month of September 2022 as Attendance Awareness Month.

The resolution promotes regular school attendance to better provide equitable opportunities for our students to learn, grow and thrive academically, emotionally and socially.  

The resolution states: 

WHEREAS, good attendance is essential to student achievement and graduation, and we are committed to dedicating our resources and attention to reducing chronic absenteeism rates, with a focus starting as early as kindergarten;

WHEREAS, chronic absence - missing 10 percent or more of school for any reason including excused and unexcused absences, or just two or three days a month - is a proven predictor of academic trouble and dropout rates;

WHEREAS, improving attendance and reducing chronic absence takes commitment, collaboration and tailored approaches to particular challenges and strengths in each community;

WHEREAS, chronic absence predicts lower third-grade reading proficiency, course failure and eventual dropout, it weakens our communities and our local economy;

WHEREAS, the impact of chronic absence hits low-income students and children of color particularly hard if they don't have the resources to make up for lost time in the classroom and are more likely to face systemic barriers to getting to school - such as unreliable transportation, lack of access to health care, unstable or unaffordable housing;

WHEREAS, chronic absence exacerbates the achievement gap that separates low-income students from their peers, since students from low-income families are both more likely to be chronically absent and more likely to be affected academically by missing school. Absenteeism also undermines efforts to improve struggling schools, since it's hard to measure improvement in classroom instruction if students are not in class to benefit;

WHEREAS, schools and community partners can reach out more frequently to absent students to determine why they are missing school and what would help them attend more regularly;
 
WHEREAS, schools and districts must do more to track, calculate and share the data on how many students are chronically absent so that we can deliver the right interventions to the right students;

WHEREAS, all students - even those who show up regularly - are affected by chronic absence because teachers must spend time reviewing for students who missed lessons;

WHEREAS, chronic absence can be significantly reduced when schools, parents and communities work together to monitor and promote good attendance and address hurdles that keep children from getting to school;

WHEREAS, we, the members of the Board of Directors of Douglas County School District No. 4 (Roseburg Public Schools) hereby adopts an Attendance Initiative in the belief that chronic student absence can be significantly reduced when schools, parents and communities work together to monitor and promote good attendance and address hurdles that keep children from getting to school;

NOW, THEREFORE, we, the members of the Board of Directors of Douglas County School District No. 4, (Roseburg Public Schools) further proclaim that our schools will stand with the nation in recognizing September as "Attendance Awareness Month". We hereby commit to focusing on reducing chronic absenteeism to give all children an equitable opportunity to learn, grow and thrive academically, emotionally and socially.

Specifically, we will:

1. Make clear that improved student attendance is one of our school district's top priorities among all of our teachers and school leaders.
2. Use data to raise public awareness, establish targets and goals, track progress and assure accountability.
3. Engage parents and the community - including civic and elected leaders, local businesses, clergy members and nonprofit organizations - to help us spread the message that good attendance matters and help us come up with solutions to ensure all children are in school as much as possible.