By Stephen Smoot
“Bless those at the meeting tonight and those whom we serve,” prayed J. D. Wilkins, president of the Pendleton County Board of Education, as he opened the final meeting for June.
Carrie Nesselrodt, director of student services, presented the final attendance report for the 2023-23 school year. The report showed strong improvement overall while also revealing areas of focus for next year.
She led off by announcing Franklin Elementary School as having the best attendance percentage, adding that the school was “pretty excited” over earning the attendance trophy.
The best individual grade attendance percentage came from Brandywine Elementary School’s fourth grade. That grade also had the highest attendance percentage overall throughout the county.
Pendleton County Schools made chronic absenteeism a focus for improvement throughout the school year. Joint efforts by the school system and their Communities in Schools partners showed improvement during last year.
The West Virginia Department of Education defines “chronic absenteeism” as when a student misses 10 percent or more days of school. Pendleton County Schools pushed to keep chronic absenteeism at less than 20 percent with a goal of 10 percent. In 2022-23, statewide chronic absenteeism rates came close to 30 percent.
Nesselrodt broke down chronic absences by month and school, and also showed county totals. Numbers indicate substantial improvement in chronic absenteeism rates in the first two months of school. Throughout the county, August showed an improvement from 30.29 percent in 2022-23 to 8.7 percent in the year just concluded. September rates dropped countywide from 19.71 percent to 12.75 percent.
Also impressive, North Fork Elementary School showed declines in chronic absenteeism for each month of the year.
All schools declined each month through the end of December.
Brandywine Elementary School showed increases over 2022-23 between January and April, but these upticks were over exceptionally good numbers last year. Pendleton County Middle/High School also showed higher numbers from March, April, and May.
“As spring comes,” Nesselrodt explained, “the motivation for upperclassmen to attend generally drops.” That said, she informed the board that they will make spring attendance at PCMHS a priority next year.
Overall, Pendleton County Schools recorded an approximate 20 percent chronic absenteeism rate for the school year just ended.
