Absenteeism impacts Carson summer school enrollment

Enrollment in Carson City School District’s 2024 summer school program reflects the year’s ongoing struggles with chronic absenteeism, but students gradually see their “light at the end of the tunnel,” Carson High School Dean of Students Shauna Wooldridge said.

The counts this year included 320 high school students who began classes, and 192 finished as of Monday, June 24. There were still 104 to finish before the session’s final day Friday, June 28. A handful of students were removed for attendance and behavior issues, she said.

At the middle school level, 112 middle school students were enrolled, with 47 students from Carson Middle School and 67 at Eagle Valley Middle School. Wooldridge said the district reserved 50 spots for each campus, but a smaller amount from CMS showed. Eleven students were removed for attendance or discipline.

On June 28 as the session concluded, most students will have completed at least one class with some finishing a second or third.

“They typically are upper-level students who are juniors or seniors or those who are in that pattern of not going to school and it’s hard to break that pattern,” she said.

Staff members consistently work to set kids’ goals for the year about regular attendance and stepping up their game. Efforts focus on overcoming academic and behavioral struggles from the year prior, Wooldridge said.

“Attendance has such a giant impact on whether or not they pass classes,” she said. “Students who were absent … they were absent a lot and were failing as a result. I know we want to be past that point of COVID, but we still have that attendance influence. It is something that has that lingering effect.”

Students perform particularly well in the summer school environment where they receive more focused attention and access to a variety of teachers.

“If they don’t mesh with one teacher, we move them to a different teacher and can provide them with help,” Wooldridge said.

Behavior issues have decreased this year, although those who are removed might be taken out for vaping or fighting.

“We haven’t had that this year,” she said. “Our biggest issue is the (cell phone use).”

Staff members confiscate phones from students during the day when they see students Googling or texting, she said, to keep them from cheating. Three students were removed due to phone use, Wooldridge said.

“We just want them to make a good choice and do their schoolwork,” she said. “We’re not looking to hassle anybody. I come and say, ‘I need to take your cell phone, you’ll get it back at the end of day, no harm, no foul.’ It’s not a cell phone issue, it’s an insubordination issue.”

She was surprised by the fact that the students’ friends all tried to convince their peers to give up their phones and the three students still refused. In one situation, summer school was only two days in session.

“All of their friends were begging them, ‘It’s not worth it,’” she said.

Overall, this year’s session has been successful with the cohort taking it seriously.

“They’re pretty quick,” she said. “They get it done so they can go home. It’s pretty interesting to see how quickly they finish but also how many are struggling. We’re really working on getting their classes done so they can have a better year.”