RSHS principal: 46% of students have missed more than 10 classes in spring semester

ROCKINGHAM — Attendance issues at Richmond Senior High School since the pandemic continue to be a major problem, according to Principal Jim Butler.

In the fall 2020 semester, 36% of students missed over 10 school days. Now, in this spring semester, over 600 (or about 46% of the total) students have missed over 10 school days out of the total 1,305 students enrolled.

“We’ve never had that [high number of students not attending classes] in an entire school year,” Butler said. “We had that in one nine weeks.”

Before COVID-19, 15 absences in a class made it impossible for a student to receive credit and pass that particular course. That policy has changed. Butler said that for this year, RSHS is not holding to the standard of 15 absences.

“We’re not penalizing kids for being absent,” Butler said. “Some students have just gotten in the habit of not being in school. It’s difficult to come back from that. Everybody suffers when they’re not in school.”

He speculated that the cause could be ongoing technology issues, students with a lack of internet access and the combination of in-person and virtual learning have made it difficult to accurately assess the attendance issue. Adding to the complications, many students may have taken on jobs in addition to school, the principal said.

“When you’re not in class, you’re not getting the instruction. That certainly makes it a lot more difficult to complete assignments and get the information you need,” Butler said. “In the end, it does hurt, although we’re not putting a penalty on it based on your days [missed].”

It’s not a guarantee of success just by being in class, but it makes learning the material much easier, he added.

“We know the lack of attendance hurts them,” he said. “It shouldn’t be just about passing, it should be learning the most out of class.”

Students in middle and high school in Richmond County Schools are still in the A and B cohorts, a combination of in-person and virtual learning. At most, students at RSHS can only be physically in the classroom for two days per week.

“A lot of kids, a lot of teachers… We all need certain structures to remain in our routines and we’ve gotten away from that,” Butler said. “Some students just have not found the discipline to keep up with that when there’s not that structure of a four walls classroom to keep you on track.”

The graduation rate over the last four years at RSHS has been steady between 82-84%. Butler said in an email that it’s possible that the graduation rate could drop below 70% this year. He cautioned that there is still time to address this issue.

The persistent attendance issue was addressed at a virtual Parent’s Night meeting on Wednesday.

“You’ve got to get your students in school,” Butler said to parents at the meeting. “They cannot be successful without attending class.”

Next week, some alternative options will be made available for students who have missed a lot of time and need to satisfy their school work requirements. There could be some afterhours school instruction or make-up periods on a Saturday. Butler said it’s a new way to be flexible and creative, while working to overcome challenges from the pandemic and maintaining the integrity of the classroom and diploma.

Butler wanted to remind all parents, students, teachers and administrators that they all play a part in coming together to help kids learn, but that the attendance problems are getting worse. High school students are starting to become responsible for themselves, said Butler, but they still need guidance and to be held accountable.

“We still want to believe we can get everybody where they need to be,” Butler said. “We need to get kids back in the classroom — remotely and in-person.”