Carson City School District Director of Student Engagement and Support Jason Zona and Mayor Lori Bagwell offer guidance to parents struggling to help their children with chronic absenteeism for a variety of issues, including transportation, health, social anxiety or others.
Photo by Jessica Garcia.
Isela Flores, a Carson City mother, on Tuesday just wanted to express a few frustrations and find some help with countering chronic absenteeism for her five kids.
Flores told the Appeal she has had a daughter and a son arrested. Both missed a substantial amount of school, up to about three months. Her son had been suspended on multiple occasions before his arrest after a fight. A younger daughter who was her straight-A student has started to experience difficulties in school and has been in detention.
“I know it’s a struggle,” Flores said. “There’s things that I don’t agree with the school, but it’s not just me, it’s everybody. … But I wouldn’t drag my kids out, either. But sometimes it’s a struggle, especially when we have that kid that bumps heads with you all the time.”
Jason Zona, Carson City School District’s director of student engagement and support, and Mayor Lori Bagwell led a discussion for family members of students who are experiencing challenges with chronic absenteeism Tuesday with the city’s Juvenile Services outreach specialists. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing at least 10 percent of days in a school year.
Approximately 30 parents raised concerns about some of the hurdles ranging from transportation to bullying. They asked questions about increasing student engagement, widening the radius for bus pickup and dropoff to help kids get to school on time and hiring additional truancy officers for accountability.
CCSD’s data shows pre-pandemic levels of student absences were relatively low in 2018-19 at approximately 15% before spiking at 40.9% during COVID-19 when schools were shut down and operating remotely in 2020-21. Since then, the rate has begun to decrease consistently and is expected to continue on that path, Zona said. In September, seven of 10 Carson City Schools overall lowered their rates in 2023-24, which Zona has attributed to the help of engagement and attendance specialist Joseph Madera.
This year’s district absenteeism rate now stands at 27.6% and 2025-26’s projection is 24.84% for Carson. It follows a state goal to cut its rate by 50% thanks to a national pledge that State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert joined in September, so CCSD works to make it drop to 13.8% by 2028-29.
Bagwell and local businesses partnered through her “Mayor’s Attendance Hall of Fame” in the past year to inspire youth to improve upon or maintain perfect attendance in school.
She asked parents at the outreach night for feedback on current or new incentives.
Since January 2024, Bagwell’s Hall of Fame has provided bike giveaways, pizza parties, personal classroom visits and other prizes to increase children’s level of appreciation for being in their school seats. However, one parent on Tuesday said her child didn’t like the concept of receiving gift items and viewed them as “bribery” to go to school. Instead, the parent said he suggested a movie night or a social activity for his class.
Bagwell said she understood. Lunches with officials such as the school resource officers or a field trip to ride Go-Karts at an entertainment center might matter more to the students.
“The difference is the cumulative time that these are going on in which these children come running up to me, thanking me and being so proud to know the mayor,” Bagwell said. “And I forgot that part, right?”
The mayor also addressed her influence through city coffers to push for accountability in the programs and people directly involved with helping families. The city and the Carson City Sheriff’s Office partner in grant funding for the school resource officers assigned to the district campuses for safety or behavior needs.
“I’m not going to tell you I’m not hard on the sheriff’s office and the school resource officers and that we don’t try to hold them accountable to what they promised me when they asked me to fund them,” Bagwell said.
Zona told parents programs developed within schools have been successful at keeping students engaged. As a former Pioneer Academy principal, one mentorship program that had been successful for the high school is under consideration now for the CCSD. Students would be paired with an adult staff member to keep them accountable and build trust at school.
“It’s really important to have someone to go talk to,” Zona said.
Zona thanked the parents, Juvenile Services staff and Bagwell in a statement to the Appeal after the discussion for providing insight on some of the barriers. He said staff members are working to help wherever they can to address families’ concerns.
“Carson City educators are going above and beyond to inspire their students to come each day, and leaders have made attendance a top priority; however, the largest positive effect to attendance rests on the shoulders of students and their guardians,” Zona said. “The many layers of support and assistance put into place in CCSD reside at the physical school site.”