School days are buzzing at Washington this year with attendance numbers up across the board at the district. According to a report from Superintendent Willie Stone at the most recent school board meeting, they have seen an increase of around 42 students daily in district buildings over last year, up 2.9% for the first quarter of the year. According to Stone, overall attendance sits between 94 and 95 percent. The increase has been most dramatic at the high school level where they are up more than 4%. Stone spoke to the board about specific points of emphasis that have facilitated the climb. “We’ve really had a focus on attendance this year and right now we’re up about 2.9% for the first quarter, compared to what we were last year. We’re super excited about that. We really believe, if kids are at school, we’ll teach them. We’re excited to have them there. Our buildings have done a lot of things to really work on that. Probably the biggest thing is the program we introduced two years ago, ‘Capturing Kids Hearts’. Making sure we connect with every student and then trying to connect students with other students. We do things like ‘good things’. It allows kids in the classroom to hear what’s going on for other students.”

The “Capturing Kids Hearts” program puts a focus on staff rapport with students and connecting those students with other goings on in the building by sharing “good things” during class periods. During the 2021-22 year, the high school’s attendance sat below the 90 percentile, and staff set a goal for this year of 95%. Current numbers are trending that direction, with attendance in the building at 93.65% at the one quarter mark.