Wake schools launches new efforts to keep kids coming to class (WRAL)
The Wake County Public School System wants to boost attendance and make sure all students are showing up to school every day.
The Wake County Public School System wants to boost attendance and make sure all students are showing up to school every day.
School district officials are rolling out changes, including a new task force, in an effort to reverse the trend that began when student attendance plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A report released in May shows 1 in 5 students in Wake County is chronically absent. These are students who miss at least 10% of school days, or generally around 18 days.
To address the issue, Wake County schools called in the national organization Attendance Works. The group reviewed attendance policies and actions and made a host of recommendations.
The recommendations include creating an attendance task force focused on greeting students when they enter school, urging teachers to make direct contact with parents at the start of the school year, and working on additional measures to provide staff with meaningful guidance.
Another recent initiative involves school-based attendance teams. A spokesperson for Wake County schools told WRAL News these teams have always been in place, but the district provided a uniform agenda and best practices for those teams two years ago.
They focus not just on students with attendance issues but also what the school can do to be more proactive in encouraging attendance for all students.
Wake schools is also focusing on being more proactive in giving support to students and their families who may need it.
Via WRAL. See Original Story Here
WRAL: Wake County students fight summer hunger with cereal box domino demo
As summer break looms, many Wake County children face the challenge of food insecurity, but Dillard Drive Magnet Elementary School students are tackling the issue with an innovative cereal box drive.
Thousands of Wake County kids are heading into summer break without a guaranteed hot breakfast and lunch, but Dillard Drive Magnet Elementary School is hoping to change that with the solution of hundreds of cereal boxes.
Global Studies teacher Kristen Terry encouraged her students to start a school-wide effort to collect cereal boxes. They then lined up the collection for a toppling domino chain.
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As the gap closed from box to box in the domino chain of cereal boxes at Dillard Drive Magnet Elementary, Urban Ministries’ pantries got more full, and students learned how an act of kindness can make a big impact.
“We are putting other people first because we are giving them food to eat at home,” Briana Adebioui, a student in Terry’s Global Studies class, said.
Urban Ministries of Wake County welcomes monetary and food donations as well as volunteers.
via WRAL.com
