Due to the decrease of attendance rate in the past two years by .3 percent, assistant principal A.J. Martzall has been trying to increase the attendance rate at SHS this year.
“Ultimately, what we want to do is realize attendance is bigger than just coming to school,” Martzall said. “When you get up in the real world for a job… your reward is a paycheck. Here it comes at a later date. It’s not immediate gratification…It’s the end goal that matters.”
In the 2016-17 school year, as of Nov. 28, there are 169 students at SHS who have missed 10 or more periods of a single class. Martzall says he’s struggling to know why students do not come to their classes, and he is trying out new incentives to get students to come to school.
One of the things he is trying to do is get students who are missing 10 or more classes to come to his office and talk with him. Martzall has students sign an attendance contract and write down five things they plan to do to improve their attendance rate. Martzall then notifies the students teachers that the student is on a contract. If the student’s attendance rate does not improve, Martzall calls him or her back down to his office to follow up with why he or she is still not coming. This system gives Martzall the opportunity to focus more on students individually to determine if this really is a problem for them or if they’re just being lazy.
Martzall, along with the attendance committee, consisting of teachers and administrators, are randomly visiting classrooms a few times a week and bringing prizes to classes that have all students present. This is a new thing the committee is trying out and started after fall break ended. The rewards consist of food and drinks, but some of the students’ favorite items are Long’s donuts.
Senior Michael Phillips is a Booster Club member and admits that he doesn’t want to come to school because he’s just “enjoying (his) senior year right now.” He tries to come to school to not let Sam Hanley, sponsor for the Booster Club, down. Phillips admits that he’s missed more school this year, catching a case of senioritis.
“At the time I was skipping school, I wasn’t thinking (about the policies) but… I regretted skipping,” Phillips said.
While students like Phillips are doing well in school, not every student can be that way. It’s hard to tackle the lack of attendance for individual students because the issues range from health issues to not wanting to be at school. With Martzall’s attendance contract in place, a slight obligation for students to come to school and what steps they’re going to take to succeed, he hopes more students come to class to better their education.