LAS VEGAS (KLAS)– Attendance continues to be a concern in CCSD schools as the district struggled to reach its goal to reduce student absences last school year. The hope is that this school year things will get better.
CCSD parents told 8 News Now that the first day of school was not a good sign and that they blamed the district.
Class schedules not done and students not registered are a couple of reasons why students are already missing school.
“We were very disappointed, she was looking forward to her first day at school,” said Sabrina Calixto, CCSD guardian.
Calixto’s sister, Katie Keene was told to go home by her school.
“We were told that her packet was ready, she has everything that she needed to be registered into school. It just hadn’t been processed yet,” said Calixto.
There are 295,000 students enrolled in the school district and with the issues that have been occurring during the first week of school, some of those students are on the way to becoming chronic absentee students. It only takes missing 18 days or more to get the designation, Keene has already missed two.
“She’d been sitting the library until her sixth period because they still had not made her a schedule,” Calixto said.
No class schedule is one of the many reasons students have been missing school.
“They did not explain why it hadn’t been processed they just simply said that they were overwhelmed,” said Calixto. “When we were in line they were just sending kids home left and right.”
Last year according to the CCDC, the chronic absenteeism rate was just shy of 34%, a little higher than the state’s overall percentage. Johnston Middle School, where Keene attends, is sitting at 51%.
“I personally went to CCSD, my sister goes to CCSD, my son will not be going to CCSD,” said Calixto. “If the first week of school is going to be this much of a disaster, I’m not interested in putting my son in CCSD.”
A district representative told 8 News Now, “In general we are working on things side by side with schools to improve attendance.”
The district currently has 25 truancy officers, however, they did not give an exact number on recent absences.
