Chronic absenteeism is a problem in Pendleton schools
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – Chronic absenteeism is plaguing public schools throughout Oregon, and the Pendleton School District is no exception. Superintendent Kevin Headings says the Oregon Department of Education backed off of holding parents legally accountable for poor attendance during the pandemic, and hasn’t restored teeth to the process yet. However, he said those teeth seldom had to bite.
The district used to work with parents and students with poor attendance and would only result to legal action if all else failed. He said that more must be done in the schools than just have the power to take that action.
“We need to make our public schools more attractive to everybody,” he said. “We need to make them a place where our families feel welcomed, they know that the student is going to be safe, that a student is going to get a good education.”
He said the district will continue to work on creating a safe learning environment. The state, he said, needs not only to restore school districts’ power to take action. It also needs to address and deal with behavioral problems that make some students feel unsafe. He says it’s essential that students believe that they will be cared for not only by the adults in the building but also by the other students as well.
In the 2017-18 school year, 82 percent of the district’s students attended school at least 90 percent of the time. The 2022-23 school year saw only 58 percent attending at least 90 percent of the time.
