Attendance up at Cape Girardeau schools

Maybe it's the tougher attendance policy. Perhaps it's what's happening in the classroom, or a stepped-up effort to reach students and families at risk. It could be a combination of a lot of things.

Whatever the motivation, more students in the Cape Girardeau School District went to school last fall compared to same semester in 2009.

Attendance districtwide increased to 94.4 percent, up from 93.7 percent in the fall semester of 2009, according to a report released by the school district. All but one of the district's 10 buildings posted attendance gains.

"At this time we believe that the new attendance procedures have improved awareness about the importance of students attending school on a regular basis," assistant superintendent Pat Fanger said in an e-mail.

Early last semester, the district launched its beefed-up attendance policy, holding parents legally accountable for their children's unexcused absences. To date, four parents have been charged with educational neglect, or violating the compulsory school attendance law. Maximum penalties include 15 days in jail, a $300 fine and the possibility of probation of up to two years on the misdemeanor charge.

"We have also seen an improvement with the number of students tardy to school and the number of students being picked up early, especially at the elementary level," Fanger said of the policy's effect.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle has said the charges are having a deterrent effect.

Alma Schrader Elementary School recorded a 97 percent average attendance rate last semester, the best in the district. The rate was up nearly a percentage-and-a-half from fall semester 2009, according to the report. Blanchard Elementary School, on the federal No Child Left Behind watch list for failing to meet adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years, saw its average attendance rate rise from 94.5 percent to 96.2 percent.

The Cape Girardeau Alternative Education Center had the lowest average attendance rate, at 84.8 percent, down from 86.4 percent in fall semester 2009. It was the only building in the district to note an attendance decline.

Raising the attendance rate, educators say, is crucial in driving up the high school graduation rate, which was 73 percent last year. The goal is to hit a graduation rate of 90 percent by 2013.

mkittle@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

301 N. Clark Ave., Cape Girardeau MO

Attendance rates

School Fall semester '09 Fall semester '10

Schrader 95.6 97.0

Blanchard 94.5 96.2

Clippard 95.5 96.3

Franklin 94.3 95.7

Jefferson 94.3 94.5

Central Middle 95.3 96.2

Central Junior 95 95.7

Central High 92.9 93.8

Alternative Education Center 86.4 84.8

District total 93.7% 94.4%