[billiefan2000]

In Douglas and Sarpy Counties, 6,615 school-age children miss school daily.

It may seem like a no-brainer: A student can't learn if she doesn't show up for class. But for some families, getting students to school — let alone getting them there on time — is a major obstacle.

A family might live too close to school for a free bus ride but too far to walk in the cold. The family car could break down, or an illness could keep Mom at home with a sibling instead of carting kids to school.

Some kids, of course, just don't want to go to class, and their parents don't make them.

Several schools, including Mockingbird and Spring Lake Magnet Center in OPS, are focusing partly on the parents.

At Spring Lake, in south Omaha, parents of students with perfect attendance were entered into a drawing for one of 10 $100 HyVee gift cards. Students earn rewards, too.

Principal Susan Aguilera-Robles said the incentives are working for students.

“They'll tell parents not to make appointments during the day,” Aguilera-Robles said. “They know they can't miss school.”

Thirty-one of the school's 753 students have perfect attendance so far. Next month, those students are going to the IMAX theater at the Henry Doorly Zoo and will eat lunch at the zoo's TreeTops restaurant.

At the end of the 2008-09 school year, about 20 students had perfect attendance.



more... Omaha.com - The Omaha World-Herald: Metro/Region - Carrots for the classroom

[billiefan2000]

Check your school's attendance

Omaha.com - The Omaha World-Herald: Metro/Region - Check your school's attendance

percent of traunt or absent kids per district:


ELKHORN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 4.12%


SOUTH SARPY DIST 46 4.28%

MILLARD PUBLIC SCHOOLS 4.36%

PAPILLION-LA VISTA PUBLIC SCHS 4.74%

RALSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS 5.22%

OMAHA PUBLIC SCHOOLS 6.96%


rest are listed at Omaha.com - The Omaha World-Herald: Metro/Region - Check your school's attendance

[Omaha Rocks]

Does this number/percentage include sick kids?

[camping!]

I think is bs. My dd who is an honor student misses about ten days a year on average due to asthma. Yet I get the vaguely threatening letters about the truant officer every year. There is no attempt to differentiate from illness and truancy. Why is that?

[billiefan2000]

I dont think it is complete bs


a lot of kids are skipping school, at the libraries or the mall or elsewhere during school hours.