This article was written by BenitoLink intern Juliana Luna
Hollister High School has seen a decrease in attendance in the first 76 days of the school year, according to a report presented to the Board of Trustees on Dec. 13.
This school year, attendance is at 92.9%, down from 94.5% in the fall semester of the 2021-22 school year, the report said.
“The results that we’ve seen since the last time I talked to you have been not what we wanted,” said Bret Painter, director of information, technology and accountability. “We have been in an environment where illness absences have ramped up quite a bit. We have currently gone through 11 straight school days below 90% attendance.”
Painter added that during the omicron virus surge of 2021-22, the school had 18 days with less than 90% attendance.
“From the 48th day to the 76th day, we did see a noticeable drop in attendance rate schoolwide that affected everyone in our student groups,” said Painter.
The groups exhibiting the largest drops are English learners (1.4%) and foster homeless students (1.6%), he said.
Reaching out to other local schools, Painter found Southside Elementary’s attendance rate was 76% on the day he called.
“It’s not just us. It’s not just local,” he said. “Look around the state and you can see high school attendance rates across the state are suffering. We are not alone.”
According to the school’s report, 41,066 class periods were missed from illness-related absences in the 2022-23 school year, a 38.8% increase from the previous year. Here is a further breakdown.
- Excused absences—13,826 class periods (up 37.3%)
- Unexcused absences—49,051 class periods (up 11.6%)
- Tardiness —20,447 class periods (up 32.1%)
Painter said the school is doing its best to communicate with families about the significance of missing school days and informing parents of how to call in an absence through the school’s newsletter. He said the school is trying to appeal to students on Fridays with food offerings including pizza, emphasize the importance of attendance and reach out with student activities from the Associated Student Body.
“All of this has led to changes,” he said. “Attendance is not where we wanted to be. The reasons our students are absent this year compared to last have changed significantly. We have illness absences up by almost 10% compared to the year before.”
He added that the excused absences for the 2022-23 school year are driven by students who are uncertain of whether they still carry symptoms.
Painter said this year the school is at less than 50% unexcused absences. “We have a goal of eventually dropping that number down to 40% toward the end of the year. This indicates that the messaging that we are delivering is promoting a change in the behaviors of our families.”
The BenitoLink Internship Program is a paid, skill-building program that prepares local youth for a professional career. This program is supported by Monterey Peninsula Foundation AT&T Golf Tour, United Way, Taylor Farms and the Emma Bowen Foundation.
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