September is Attendance Awareness Month, a time to put some extra attention on the ongoing issue of chronic absenteeism in North Carolina schools.
Chronic absenteeism is defined as students missing 10% or more of their school year. Attendance Works, a nonprofit initiative that seeks to improve school attendance, says chronically absent students have lower grades and learning gaps, and an increased risk of falling behind in coursework or being held back a year. Such students also miss out on the short- and long-term benefits of education, such as social opportunities and job opportunities. Chronically absent students are more likely to drop out and develop behavior problems.
“Consistent attendance is one of the strongest predictors of academic growth and success,” said Macon County Schools Superintendent Josh Lynch. “When students are present, they have direct access to high-quality instruction, peer collaboration and real-time feedback from their teachers. Regular attendance also builds positive habits of responsibility, engagement and persistence, which directly translate into higher achievement both in school and in the future.”
Lynch said the school system seeks to maintain high levels of student attendance across all schools with a focus on chronic absenteeism.
“By keeping attendance rates strong, we can ensure students have the greatest opportunity to learn, grow, and reach their full potential,” he said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic students had more opportunities to miss class and fall behind. Attendance rates have been improving since the end of the pandemic, but school officials say they could be better.
In 2023, Macon County Schools saw a 24.97% rate of chronic absenteeism, and in 2024 that rate jumped to 28.91%. Macon County is faring well compared to its neighbors, of which Swain County has the highest rate at 41.22% and Haywood the lowest at 20.86%.
Macon Middle School’s Stacy Raby said she is unsure of what caused the 4% jump between 2023 and 2024, noting that the system is still in the information-gathering phase to discover what specific factors are driving attendance issues.
Raby is identifying Middle School students who counted as chronically absent students in 2024 and visiting and offering support to those students. Raby said she was able to cut absence rates by up to half for some students by specifically targeting students who are missing between 17 and 23 days of school. The students are just over the 10% line, ensuring the special attention and support goes further.
Why students miss school
Raby said she wants to survey teachers across the system to better pinpoint causes for individual absences. She has also been workshopping activities that could help make students excited to come to class and boost attendance.
MCS federal programs officer Mickey Noe said the state’s requirement for students to attend at least 85% of the time to be eligible for sports has helped to lower absence rates.
“It’s about anything you can find a hook for those kids to do,” Noe said. “For some kids it may be band, for some kids it may be a club, for some kids it may be choir, just finding that hook … that makes them feel special and makes them want to come to school. If we can find these hooks for all these different kids and make them feel like someone wants them to be in school every day, I feel like that’s going to make a big difference.”
Attendance Works outlined common barriers to attendance that include chronic illness and lack of access to housing, food, transportation and services. Raby said some students are working full-time jobs or taking care of younger family members. Mental health impacts attendance when students are bullied or feel unwelcome in the classroom.
Macon County Schools still has bus routes that are not running, unable to find enough drivers to provide adequate transportation to all students. Among families that have students in multiple schools, Noe said the lack of running bus routes can make it harder for some parents to keep their attendance rates up. However, Raby said East Franklin Elementary had one of the lowest absence rates in the system at 17.98% in 2024 even with a bus not running.
Transportation Director Todd Gibbs said at the September Board of Education meeting that all but two bus routes are now running, an improvement from the seven routes not running at the beginning of the school year, with school faculty stepping up to fill some of the gaps.
Parental involvement needed
Outside of poverty, Raby said laziness and a lack of parental discipline motivates a significant portion of the school system’s chronic absenteeism rates. She said some parents are entertaining poor habits and students are missing out on education as a result.
“We have kids that just wake up in the morning, like, ‘I don’t feel like going to school today.’ Mom writes them a note … but they do this three or four days a month,” Raby said. “They come to school just enough to keep going, but they’re losing instruction and it adds up.”
“I’ve got kids applying to the virtual academy because … that’s just a great way to be able to stay at home and not have to deal with the social aspects. Attendance in the Virtual Academy is pretty good, but all you have to do is log on and … put in at least two hours a day,” Noe said. “I do have some that are working full-time jobs. So it’s a flexibility thing… if it’ll prevent a dropout we’ll do anything possible to try to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Attendance Works said engaging families would have to be a priority on the same level of fixing transportation and addressing community health needs, to correct common misconceptions and help parents develop the good habits necessary to improve attendance through and beyond school.
“We should be training these kids for employment,” Raby said.
“Parents play a vital role by setting the expectation that school attendance matters,” Lynch said. “Modeling the importance of being on time and present every day reinforces the value of education. Parents can also establish consistent routines at home, encourage good sleep and study habits, and communicate regularly with their child’s teachers to stay informed and engaged in the learning process.”
Lynch said, “Schools can support families by keeping open lines of communication, sharing timely updates about attendance, and helping identify and remove barriers that may prevent a child from being in school. This may include providing resources, offering flexible support, and partnering with families to problem-solve when challenges arise. By working together, we can create a shared commitment to student success.”
Noe said causes and treatments for absenteeism would be discussed at a principals’ meeting on Sept. 24.