Newark Public Schools Attacking Student Absences on Many Fronts

The Newark Public Schools is completing the third month of a campaign to reduce absenteeism by half in the district.

The “Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow” initiative was launched in response to the district’s high absenteeism rate, which included 300,000 absences for elementary students and 60 percent of high school students missing more than 20 days in the 2012-2013 school year.  

In the last month, the district began several programs as part of the campaign, including creating a “Buddy System”, which involves a support team of fellow students and staff who meet with students may be in danger of missing too much school.  

At Oliver Street school, an incentive program called “Golden Apple” has begun, in which a class that records perfect attendance for the week is recognized, while at Maple Avenue and Park Avenue schools, an intensive data-gathering program has begun to identify and deal with emerging trends in student attendance.

 Downtown area businesses popular with students, such as  Halsey Deli, Dario’s, Mama’s Pizza, Pages, Blimpie’s and Harvest Table, are helping by displaying posters and in some cases providing incentive programs.