And many school districts across our region say they are struggling with attendance among students
Our Zac Kaye talked with school officials about what they are doing to combat this
The assistant principal here at Glendale Junior Senior High School tells me that there are incentives for students in place this year to help combat the high numbers of absences they have seen since they returned from the pandemic
Gregg Mazenko is the Assistant Principal at Glendale Junior Senior High School and says they have been working on a targeted school improvement plan since their return to in-person learning after the pandemic.
“We just didn’t really see the high level of absenteeism until COVID, and then after COVID was over attendance did not bounce back like it was historically.”
He says this year they are offering incentives to students to come to school, including pizza parties for the grade with the best attendance, and field trips to places like St. Francis University and an Altoona Curve game for those who did not miss a day during a marking period.
“Many parents came up to me, we sent out a letter, and they came up to me and remarked about how they thought that was a pretty awesome idea and they said ‘when I was a kid we didn’t have that we just had to come to school.”
Mazenko says the goal of this initiative is simple.
“Just to get kids to come here more regularly, try to get back to Pre-COVID attendance practices, and try to incentivize even kids that only miss a few days to miss even less.”
Mazenko says it’s too early to tell if this initiative will work, but hopes to see more kids coming to school to receive some of these rewards.
