Attendance figures show fewer absences

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One official said it's the best attendance figures he's seen in 11 years.

BY AMANDA GARRETT

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN — Although city school enrollment declined by 348 pupils this year, fewer children are missing school, according to the district's attendance figures.

Attendance for the week of Oct. 2 was between 94.1 and 95.5 percent, according to statistics distributed by Gordon Hazen, supervisor of the office of student and community services.

Attendance figures for last year at the same time were between 91.7 and 93.9 percent.

"These are the best attendance figures in the 11 years I've been in this position," Hazen told the school board at its meeting Tuesday.

One of the most remarkable things about the improved attendance is that all of the elementary-school pupils who missed a day had a verified reason for being absent, Superintendent Kathryn Hellweg said.

The school with the single highest attendance rating was Garfield Elementary, which had 99.1 percent of pupils present on Oct. 3.

The two pupils who were absent had the chickenpox, Hellweg said.

Pizza reward

All of the pupils and staff from Garfield and Lincoln Elementary, which averaged 99 percent attendance on Oct. 2, will be given a pizza party furnished by the district.

The largest attendance increase per school was at Washington Center Alternative School, where attendance rose from a low of 68.6 percent in 2005 to a high of 89.5 percent in 2006.

Overall enrollment figures for 2006 are 5,996, compared to 6,344 in 2005.

Attendance figures are important because they affect the amount of funding each district receives from the Ohio Department of Education, Hazen said.

In other business, the board awarded a $75,000 contract to ProQuality Land Development of Campbell for the demolition of Lincoln Elementary School. The demolition is scheduled to begin next week, said Bill Schurman, who is senior manager of the district's construction project.

agarrett@vindy.com

Wednesday, October 11, 2006