The Highland School Board reviewed chronic absentee numbers from Highland Secondary School at its board retreat on Monday.
In total, 44 students were chronically absent from Highland Secondary in the 2024-25 school year, with the number of students absent increasing as they got older. Ten out of 38 juniors and 14 out of 46 seniors were chronically absent, equating to over a quarter of the high school’s upperclassmen. To be considered chronically absent, a student had to have missed 10% of days of instruction.
Secondary Principal Angela Hazelett noted that excused and unexcused absences count the same, regardless of the purpose for the excuse. She explained that excused absences like extracurriculars, and unexcused absences like college visits, become more common among older students, contributing partially to the increase. Hazelett also noted that students over the age of 16 are no longer bound by compulsory education laws, so the school has fewer tools to ensure those students make it to class.
Hazelett stated, “We found early on that there was some discrepancy in what counted as a full day – was it four periods or more?If it was less than four periods it counted as a half a day, if it was just one period it still counted as half a day, and that is a problem at the high school because the kids have to leave early for track, for basketball.”
Hazelett went on to say she would seek advice from other districts on how they track absences to see if Highland could improve its documentation.
A law passed by the state legislature that will go into effect on July 1 now only requires interventions for chronically absent students who school officials believe are having their academic progress impacted by their absence.