Rochester school district officials are making a big push to get school started off in the right direction when it comes to attendance.
Superintendent Bolgen Vargas has set a goal of reaching 95 percent attendance on the first day of school, which is next Wednesday in Rochester. And the district's director for youth development and family services, Jerome Underwood, says it's important to set the bar high, even if they can't maintain that level of attendance all year long.
He says officials are still hopeful the district can average 95 percent attendance in two to three years.
Underwood says attendance is crucial if test scores are to improve at Rochester schools.
"The data exists, we got it earlier this month from our ELA and math scores and it tells us what we knew already, if kids are in school, the likelihood of them having higher academic achievement, is very, very high.”
Underwood says the city school district faces special challenges in reaching those high levels of attendance, not the least of which is the high concentration of poverty. But he says district officials are again imploring people in the community to work together through volunteer and other efforts to help Rochester students succeed.
The school district is also looking for people willing to volunteer to take some students to school next week if those students have not yet been able to arrange their regular bus transportation.
