Nearly 1 in 3 North Coast Students “Chronically Absent”

School is back in session along the North Coast, and i visited the Humboldt County Office of Education to see just why attending school is so important for local students.

Gillian Townsend, a Licensed Social Worker for the Humboldt County Office of Education, told Redwood News, “Completing an education is really what leads to becoming a successful adult. The k-12 education is critical and necessary for higher education, but also for vocational programs and joining the military or even becoming an entrepreneur.”

Not attending school can lead to a host of developmental issues.

“Research right now is showing us that students from a significant amount of school can be between 18 and 25% behind their peers in English and math,” she continued.  “But as I said before, in addition to academics, there’s critical developmental milestones that can be delayed when students are in a solid educational program that they’re in every single day.”

Chronic absenteeism has become an issue not only on the north coast, but across the country.

“If a student is missing more than 10% of the school year, then they are considered chronically absent. And so the city california and humboldt county, our chronic absenteeism rates are at about 30%, which is about twice what we saw pre-covid.” said Townsend.

That means, around 1 in three students is missing more than ten percent of the school year.

“We’re looking for family engagement, parent engagement to help inform and drive programs and systems that really lead to students feeling safe and welcomed and relevant on campus,” she added.  “And that’s something that fundamentally will help us with our attendance rates when we have families who are struggling with attendance.”

Even being more than thirty minutes late can be considered part of an absence.  Gillian says, if you’re struggling with getting your child to school, reach out to someone at the school for support.