The County Office of Education is getting ready to roll out its
countywide attendance campaign called
”
Every Day Counts.
”
The County Office of Education is getting ready to roll out its countywide attendance campaign called “Every Day Counts.”
Administrators met last week, and decided they’ll introduce the campaign to school principals and administration at a meeting Aug. 9, and stressed its importance. Superintendent of County Schools Tim Foley said the campaign to stop truancy isn’t something that needs money to be successful, it needs commitment.
“This is a campaign that needs to be a priority, and a commitment from an awful lot of people,” he said. “At the school sites and at home.”
The name of the campaign, “Every Day Counts,” is a message the County Office of Education wants parents to understand. Alternative Education Director Mike Sanchez said it’s just like baseball players who say “the more at bats they have, the better they get.” He wants San Benito County students to have more “at bats” in school.
“Parents don’t realize missing just one day of school matters,” he said. “That day, they may be learning something that will be used in a lesson the following week, and then they’re not prepared.”
Along with sending the message to teachers and staff, the campaign will reach out to the entire community with posters and banners throughout the county.
“It all goes back to the notion of it takes the whole village to raise a child,” Foley said. “Our goal is to empower community members so they feel the need to ask students why they’re not in school, or ask their neighbors about their kids who are home. People need to know it’s OK to ask these kinds of questions.”
The reason for campaigning in the community and not just in the schools has to do with visibility, Sanchez said.
“By launching this campaign, we’re more likely to involve people or aren’t normally part of it,” he said. “We want to get everyone’s attention and interest.”
The need to get students back in school stemmed from declining attendance rates in the county. Low attendance rates means less money for the schools, but Foley said the campaign isn’t just about getting money.
“California standards testing is requiring more and more expectations of the students, and if they’re missing school, they won’t know all the material,” Foley said.
Because there are different reasons why high school students and elementary school students are truant, Foley said, the different school sites will have to take the information about the campaign and craft it into what fits for their campus.
“This isn’t a one size fits all,” he said.
Anything that raises awareness about the truancy problem is a good thing for the schools, said William Jacinto, a counselor at Rancho San Justo Middle School.
“We need to make the parents aware of how important it is for their children to come to school,” he said.
For more information about “Every Day Count” or to get information on how to talk to others about truancy, call the County Office of Education at 831-637-5393.
