By Janine Davis Record Staff Writer Warren County R-III School District leaders report the district is meeting ambitious goals to increase student attendance, citing last year’s levels as the best in 11 years. During the 2013-14 school year, the student average daily attendance was 94.30 percent, up from 93.62 percent the prior year, according to Superintendent Dr. Jim Chandler. Chandler said the average attendance during the previous 10 years was 93.47 percent. “We had said at the beginning of the year that as a district we will increase our ADA (average daily attendance),” he said. “We’re very pleased with all the work that our school leaders are doing to make these gains and that our kids are getting to school.” Chandler, who assumed his new duties as superintendent last summer, had promised the district would place greater emphasis on attendance and discipline in the upcoming year and beyond, noting that the district’s attendance was below the state average of 94.7 percent. Attendance at the high school at the time was 91.5 percent. “If kids aren’t here, they’re not learning,” has been a mantra for Chandler. Throughout the year, school principals pulled out the stops to get more students to class more often. Some offered attendance drawings and fun occasions like ice cream socials and themed days, all the while doing what they could to make the classroom experience more interesting. Student discipline also has been a priority for Chandler and other administrators, and numbers in this area also have improved. Discipline incidents were down significantly, from 4,140 during the 2012-13 school year to 3,577 during 2013-14 — a 13.6 percent drop. “This is the lowest number in five years,” said Chandler. “As discipline numbers go down, attendance numbers tend to rise and that bodes well for achievement.”
R-III attendance highest in years
