For the first time in over a year, the Habersham County Board of Education awarded attendance trophies to the elementary and secondary schools with the highest student and staff attendance this month during their Monday meeting.
Superintendent Matthew Cooper said that even with COVID-19 still present in Habersham’s schools, attendance is “more important than it has ever been.”
“Some would say, ‘why would you focus on attendance when we had this virus around? Shouldn’t we use the virus as an excuse to have poor attendance?'” Cooper said. “‘Shouldn’t we use it as an excuse for students to stay home when they don’t want to come to school? Shouldn’t we use it as an excuse for staff to not come to work?’ I say no, I will make the argument that attendance is more important this year than it’s ever been. I’ll go that far.”
Cooper says that right now, students are trying to catch up from the virtual instruction they received between March and September of 2020.
In student attendance, all student absences, even those that were COVID-19 related, counted against the school for attendance awards. For staff attendance, COVID-19 related absences were not counted against the school.
Cooper said that this month’s student attendance numbers are impressive for any school year, but even more impressive when the COVID-19 virus is taken into account.
“In our best years, we don’t see numbers like [these],” Cooper said. “So that should give you a little perspective on everything.”
Hazel Grove Elementary came in first place for elementary student attendance, with 96.1 percent attendance in their first month of school. Level Grove Elementary came in second place with 95.4 percent student attendance, and Baldwin Elementary came in third with 95 percent student attendance.
For secondary student attendance, Hilliard Wilbanks Middle School came in first place with 97.7 percent attendance for their first month. South Habersham Middle took second with 96.1 percent student attendance, and North Habersham Middle placed third with 95.8 percent student attendance.
Cooper says that this month’s staff attendance is the highest he’s ever seen, and that the numbers “speak volumes” about Habersham’s faculty and staff.
Baldwin Elementary placed first for elementary staff attendance, with 98.5 percent staff attendance. Woodville Elementary came in second with 98.3 percent staff attendance, and Fairview Elementary came in third with 98.2 percent staff attendance.
For secondary staff attendance, the Habersham Ninth Grade Academy came in first place with 98.5 percent attendance. North Habersham Middle came in second with 98.2 percent staff attendance, and South Habersham came in third with 98 percent staff attendance.
Next month, the board will award a “most improved” attendance trophy to go along with the highest student and faculty attendance trophies. The board’s next meeting will be on Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. in the board room, located across from the courthouse in Clarkesville.
