Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
The main focus of all schools is academics – making sure students learn all they need to know before they go out into the world to pursue their career path. To do that, it is important that the students are at school and not missing out on vital instruction.
Attendance can be a struggle. It’s nearly impossible for a student to not miss a few days due to illness, doctor’s appointments or other issue. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was a requirement to stay home, attendance has been an issue for all schools.
That’s why at Green Bank Elementary-Middle School principal Missy Jordan and assistant principal Chloe Schaffner are implementing new programs to increase student attendance.
When the administrators began brainstorming ideas, GBEMS had a 92.7 percent attendance average which sounds good, but as Schaffner pointed out, it’s actually the equivalent of getting a D in class.
With this in mind, as well as inspiration from recent training, the two have shifted focus to get students thinking about attendance every day.
“Someone from the state education department came and presented to all the administrators in the county, and he said a lot of things that resonated with me, but the main thing that really struck me, was when he said, ‘If I walk into your school building, what would I think was your focus?’” Jordan said.
When she pictured the school in her mind, Jordan saw it is the trophy case that stands at the entrance of the school.
“My wheels started turning and then he said ‘whatever you’re putting out there is what everybody is going to focus on, so think about what you’re putting out there,’” Jordan said.
The first change made at GBEMS was to the bulletin board at the main entrance. It was removed and replaced with paper thermometers for each class to measure attendance.
The thermometers are used for a friendly competition Jordan and Schaffner set up as part of the attendance incentive.
“We have a grade level competition and it’s just their overall percentage of attendance for the week,” Jordan said. “There is a trophy – it’s a traveling trophy that goes from class to class.
“First thing Monday morning when they’re walking by – we have a little paper cup we put by the thermometer – so they know who is going to get the trophy,” she added.
Students are so eager to win the cup each week, some have started encouraging fellow classmates to attend and try to make sure everyone is at school.
Jordan said she has had to assure students many times that excused absences – such as doctor’s appointments –do not count against them in the competition.
In addition to the weekly class trophy competition, there are also other activities to recognize improvement and the school’s overall attendance.
“For instance, yesterday, we had six grade levels that were all here,” Jordan said. “We only had five students in the whole school absent which is probably a tie for our lowest number in a day. I recognized all the grade levels that had a hundred percent attendance. We give shout outs to individual students – and have an announcement for behavior and attendance.”
There are also short breaks mixed in when a big attendance goal has been met. Since attendance is at-ten-dance, Jordan will get on the loudspeaker and announce a dance break at 10 a.m.
“We also want to recognize growth and improvement,” Jordan said. “Our eighth grade was down in the upper 80s, which was really low and every week since we really started focusing on this, they first went to 93 and now they have been 96 or higher every week.”
The attendance programs are working and the school not only improved but had the highest attendance percentage for the first nine weeks in the entire county –a fact made obvious by the sign planted right outside the main entrance at the school.
Adding to the competition and recognition, Jordan and Schaffner are working on communication about attendance – with students, staff and parents.
“We reached out to our kids with the most absences who are chronically absent,” Jordan said. “We’re working on the fly – we want it to be more parent friendly and offer suggestions and reminders of those things instead of it being punitive and automatically talking about truancy.”
Getting everyone on board has made a difference, and the incentives have really helped, too.
The school has now connected the Positive Behavior Individual Support System – PBIS – to attendance and are rolling out a new incentive that is individual based.
“The last piece that we’ve just added is we have our PBIS program set to roll out after Christmas break,” Jordan said. “It’s three-fold – academics, attendance and behavior. We decided to do a little trial run this week and next week and have a movie and popcorn the last day before Christmas break.”
Students who have improved their academics, attendance and behavior during those two weeks will enjoy a movie and popcorn that day.
The students are also getting involved with promoting attendance incentives through the school newsletter which is sent home to all parents and families.
“It’s a student-driven newsletter and they have asked if they could do an article about our change,” Jordan said.
“We have dedicated a page or two strictly for attendance,” Schaffner added.
The attendance incentives have grown so much that they are now including friendly competition with other schools in the county.
“I saw an idea that two other counties did during football season,” Schaffner said. “One of our biggest events of the year for our middle school is the county basketball tournament. We talked to Nebraska Scotchie at [Marlinton Middle School] and we’re having an attendance competition between Marlinton Middle basketball and Green Bank basketball.”
The tournament already has an athletic trophy and academic trophy, so this year, it will also include an attendance trophy. The team with the highest attendance rate will win.
The losing school’s principal will have to wear the opposing team’s school colors at the tournament.
“I told them, ‘orange is not my color, guys, so you better be getting this figured out,’” Jordan said.
The best part is – the plan is working, and it gives Jordan and Schaffner encouragement to think of new programs to continue the upswing in attendance.
“To know that ours was the highest in the county for the first nine weeks – that was exciting for us to find out because we didn’t really start this until the end of the first nine weeks,” Jordan said. “Now we’re seven weeks into doing this. It kind of energizes me to continue to think of different things.”
“I went to the attendance conference with Julie Shiflet and Phillip Anderson was there [from Marlinton Elementary School], Missy Hill from Marlinton Middle and Lois Wilfong from the high school,” Schaffner said.
“It gave me a lot of ideas to try to implement.
“Little, simple things that can make a big difference.”