The Greene County School District recently sent out information to families about a new state law regarding chronic absenteeism.

Superintendent Brett Abbotts says a frequently asked questions document was emailed to all families that covers information about what the district has been hearing from the community, as well as from other school districts administration. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio the state defines a student that is chronically absent as missing 20 percent or 34 days of instruction for an entire school year, and for the Greene County School District, Abbotts translates that into about 17 days per semester. 

Abbotts comments on how the first half of the school year has gone with chronic absenteeism across the district.

“We’re seeing that we’re basically holding steady with where we were last year in terms of our chronic absenteeism. We have had to go through a couple of our engagement meetings with families and set up some plans of how we’re going to ensure that we can get kids to come back to school and be compliant with the law. But as of right now, we’re holding pretty steady to where we were last year. We’re not seeing a dramatic increase or decrease.” 

Abbotts stresses that the district is committed to doing everything that it can to work with students and families to improve chronic absenteeism while also adhering to the new state law. Click here to review the most recent communication that the district has released.