LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Not long ago, Axel Labrada would try any trick to avoid going to school.
But now, the fifth-grade student at Okolona Elementary is being held as an example for others at the school, and he said he’s learned the importance of being in class every day thanks to staff at Okolona.
The school was recognized Monday for its success in boosting student attendance in recognition of Attendance Awareness Month, which is September at Jefferson County Public Schools. Principal Karen Stearman credited Okolona’s employees and students and their embrace of the mantra “Get Your Head Out of Bed and Come to School” with getting more kids in class so far this year.
Last year, the district identified about 22,000 students as chronically absent after they missed at least 17 days of school. JCPS data lists roughly 30,000 students as "habitually truant" with six or more unexcused absences.
"Attendance matters, and everyday counts whether it's excused or unexcused," said Anne Perryman, a social worker in the pupil personnel department at JCPS. "We really want to support families and try to get kids in school every day."
Every day at Okolona starts with the same routine to ensure as many kids as possible are in class.
After teachers take attendance each day, Stearman says she gets a report listing every absent student and contact numbers for their parents. Okolona staff then calls and verifies each absence, and for chronic absences, the school’s family resource worker and social worker conduct home visits, she said.
Missing the school bus is no excuse for students either. Stearman says Okolona workers will pick up anyone who misses the morning bus and bring them to school.
“I’ve picked up kids before,” she said. “We all do that.”
Classes with perfect attendance are recognized every morning, and the class with the best attendance record each grading period gets a trophy while students with perfect attendance at the end of each grading period gets a certificate, prize and their photo on the school’s perfect attendance bulletin board.
This year, the Boaz Masonic Home Lodge is also giving away two bicycles for a boy and girl in each grade level who don’t miss a day of school.
Stearman, who is in her fifth year as Okolona’s principal, said she introduced the attendance initiative to make getting to school a priority for students and parents and to address a truancy problem she’s seen in her 28 years at JCPS.
“I think it was just instilled in me as a child from my parents about work ethic and responsibility, and I feel like that’s what we’re trying to do – create productive members of society,” she told WDRB News. “I just think it’s a value as far as they need to be here to learn, but then also when they go to a job in the future, they need to be in attendance.”
Axel, who wants to be a paleontologist, said he missed about 14 days when he was in third grade, but he credited Okolona staff with turning around his attitude about school.
Another day at school now means more time with his friends, less makeup work, more learning opportunities and a better understanding of what will be expected of him as a professional.
“When I grow up, I want to be a paleontologist, and to do that job, I have to be there every day or I could get fired,” Axel said.
That sort of lesson William Mayberry, a second-year senior at Moore Traditional High School, wishes he had learned as a student. He told WDRB News that he missed about 50 days of school last year, keeping him from graduating.
Knowing his friends were receiving their diplomas while he was sitting at home left him angered and upset.
"The teacher's job is to teach you, and they can't teach you if you ain't there," Mayberry said. "But you can't get mad at nobody but yourself."
Stearman said the new attendance program required a change in parents’ mindsets at first, but she and others at Okolona have taken pains to make sure parents understand the initiative and why they’re stressing the importance attendance.
Not every parent is on board, but Stearman said their efforts have reduced truancy at Okolona. Recent attendance reports show the school has cut its number of truant students by about 9 percent in the last year, she said.
“We are a team, and we put a lot of effort into doing whatever it takes for our kids to make them successful,” she said.
JCPS hopes other schools can emulate Okolona’s success in consistently getting more students in school.
“Right now, we’re working on really having measures in place that are much more preventative so we don’t get to the point where we’re having to address things and do home visits and that kind of thing,” said Renee Murphy, the district’s communications director. “So we’re looking to do more action on the front end to make sure that kids are here.”
Reach reporter Kevin Wheatley at 502-585-0838 and kwheatley@wdrb.com. Follow him on Twitter @KevinWheatleyKY.
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