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Attendance in Powell schools is gradually rebounding after the COVID-19 pandemic saw attendance drop — the 2022-2023 academic year in Powell saw 94.25% of students in attendance which is higher …
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Attendance in Powell schools is gradually rebounding after the COVID-19 pandemic saw attendance drop — the 2022-2023 academic year in Powell saw 94.25% of students in attendance which is higher than the state’s 91.05% but still lower than before the pandemic.
Before COVID-19 made an impact in Wyoming in March 2020, Powell reported an attendance of 95.24%.
“Right after covid, I will tell you that attendance was terrible,” Superintendent Jay Curtis said. “And, I always described it to others as some kids just fell out of habit and some families fell out of the habit of going to school all the time.”
Recent news reports have indicated at the national level student absence in schools is still high following the COVID-19 pandemic.
An NPR story March 2 by Jonaki Mehta reported that pre-covid 8 million students were chronically absent nationally. In spring of 2022, roughly 16 million students were considered chronically absent.
A Sept. 5 New York Times story by David Leonhardt also reported on a nationwide increase in absenteeism. Leonhardt reported that roughly a quarter of students were chronically absent nationwide during the 2022-2023 school year, which is higher than during the pandemic. How absenteeism is calculated can vary based on the school and state.
At the halfway point of the pandemic Curtis said students were given the option to quarantine either by wearing masks in school or by staying home — roughly a third of students who had to quarantine opted to do so outside of school, even though it meant seven days outside of the classroom.
Since the end of the pandemic attendance has improved slowly, he said.
“When it was easy to miss school, people did it,” Curtis said. “And, it's not easy anymore, you've really got to work to miss school, so I think that, you know, people are just getting back in the habit of regularly attending school.”
This includes both students and parents Curtis said, because younger students rely on the parents to transport them to school.
“I just think that our parents and our families … they value school, and they make sure their kids are there. Even our attendance, I think, was even better through the pandemic than most.”
