On an early fall evening, hundreds of students, ranging from 1st-graders to high school seniors, filed onto the stage of a cavernous auditorium at a San Francisco Bay Area high school. One by one, they marched to the microphone to state their name and their milestone in achieving perfect attendance for at least a year: Some had made the goal for four years, some for seven years. One girl, a recent graduate, received a trophy in absentia, for 12.
Twelve years without a single tardy, let alone an absence.
The annual ceremony is among a host of incentives the Pittsburg Unified School District uses to encourage attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism, defined in California as missing more than 10 percent of school days in a year for any reason — excused, unexcused or suspension.
[For more on this story by LEE ROMNEY, go to https://edsource.org/2017/cali...c-absenteeism/591735]
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