By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
While school may be out, Northfield Public Schools leadership and staff are taking the time to work on plans to address other problems in the district. One of the main focus areas has been the attendance of students. As part of the way to address the problem, Northfield was part of a pilot program from the state of Minnesota. Northfield Schools Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann says it’s about addressing issues of consistent attendance and chronic absenteeism:
“Chronic absenteeism is when you miss more than 10% of the school days for us, that’s around 17 days.” – Dr. Matt Hillmann, Superintendent of Schools, on KYMN In The Morning
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In the state, 25% of students are chronically absent; in Northfield, the average was 15%, with a goal of less than 10%. Hillmann said that while the number may seem like a lot, the days can add up quickly.
“But those days add up and you’d be surprised the number of students and I think some families. When we started talking with them about this year. Were surprised. Oh. I didn’t realize my student had missed so many days and it wasn’t nefarious, right? A lot of it was just just.” – Dr. Matt Hillmann, Superintendent of Schools, on KYMN In The Morning
As part of the pilot program, Northfield was tasked with identifying best practices and strategies for other schools and the whole state to apply. Hillmann said they have already seen success in the program with a nearly 25% reduction in chronic absences at the High School in the last school year. He cited increased communication about absences and following up with issues:
“And so students who had been chronically absent the year before, but we’re pretty close, right? They were kind of on that edge within a few days. They received some specific encouragement. Teachers were assigned one or two students. Again, not overtly, but to be able to just encourage them.” – Dr. Matt Hillmann, Superintendent of Schools, on KYMN In The Morning
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