-News Release-
Success in school starts with something remarkably simple. Students have to be there.
As Rome City Schools recognizes September as Attendance Awareness Month, the district is continuing its focus on improving student attendance and reducing chronic absenteeism. The effort is about much more than counting absences. Being in school consistently gives students access to instruction, relationships with teachers and classmates, activities, and the support systems designed to help them succeed.
“Every day a student is in school is another opportunity for them to learn, connect with a teacher, spend time with their classmates, and make progress,” Rome City Schools Lead School Social Worker Kaitlyn Wilson said. “When students begin missing school regularly, those missed days can add up very quickly. Our goal is to work with students and families before attendance becomes a barrier to their success.”
Rome City Schools has already made significant progress.
District chronic absenteeism dropped from 19.3 percent in 2025 to 13.13 percent in 2026. Chronic absenteeism is defined as a student missing 10 percent or more of the days he or she is enrolled in school. The district is working to build on last year’s improvement with a goal of reducing chronic absenteeism below 10 percent.
For Wilson and the district’s social workers, improving attendance is not simply about telling students they need to come to school. It also means understanding why a student is missing school and helping families overcome barriers that may be contributing to those absences.
“There are many different reasons a student may struggle with attendance, and that is why relationships with our families are so important,” Wilson said. “We want families to know that we are here to help. Sometimes the most important thing we can do is identify what is keeping a student from being at school and then work together to find a solution.”
That work requires collaboration among families, teachers, administrators, counselors, social workers, and other support staff. Schools can monitor attendance and intervene when patterns begin developing, while families play an important role by making regular attendance a priority and communicating with the school when challenges arise.
The importance of attendance becomes even greater when missed days accumulate over the course of a school year. A student does not have to miss several consecutive weeks for absences to become significant. Days missed periodically throughout the year can eventually result in a student missing a substantial portion of classroom instruction.
Rome City Schools Superintendent Dr. Eric L. Holland said improving attendance is directly connected to the district’s efforts to Move the Needle academically.
“We can have outstanding teachers, great programs, and tremendous opportunities available to our students, but students receive the greatest benefit from those things when they are in school,” Dr. Holland said. “The improvement we saw in chronic absenteeism last year is encouraging, and it shows what can happen when our schools and families work together. Now we have to continue that progress because every additional day we have a student in the classroom is another opportunity to Move the Needle.”
Regular attendance also helps students develop habits that extend beyond academic performance. Showing up consistently, arriving on time, and meeting responsibilities are skills students will carry with them into college, careers, and adulthood.
For Rome City Schools, September provides an opportunity to highlight attendance, but the work will continue throughout the entire school year.
There is also a little extra incentive on the line, with the school showing the biggest attendance improvement during September earning the opportunity to send a pie straight into the face of Rome City Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Dennis Drummond.
“We don’t want attendance to be something families only hear about when there is a problem,” Wilson said. “We want to celebrate students who are showing up, encourage students who may be struggling, and make sure families know there are people in our schools ready to support them.”
One day may not seem like much.
But one day provides another lesson, another conversation, another opportunity, and another chance for a student to succeed.
And when those days are put together, they can make a tremendous difference.
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