Memorial Update
March 6, 2023
March 6, 2023
Good Morning Memorial Families,
In two weeks, your child will be receiving their trimester two report card. Within this report card will be a record of your child’s attendance. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of students who we consider chronically absent. Chronic absenteeism is defined by the state of Massachusetts as a student who has missed 10% or more of the school year. This means that by the end of the 180 days of school, the child would have accumulated 18 or more absences. At this point in the school year, we have many students who are already at the 10% mark, and some who are quite a bit higher. We understand that much has impacted this statistic, including increased vigilance with illnesses. Unfortunately, being frequently absent is also impacting many children’s ability to make progress with the grade level curriculum and it is negatively impacting growth. There is nothing that we can provide your child that will replace daily instruction and learning opportunities in the classroom, and while we always try to catch a child up, once significantly behind, it can be very difficult to do so. We utilize our WIN block to support students without compromising new instruction, but that is a small portion of the day and hardly mirrors a six hour day that a child has missed. While some absences are unavoidable, we are asking parents to more closely monitor the time that your child is missing class and consider ways to improve attendance. Please look at your child’s attendance data on the report card in two weeks. We will be sending letters to any child who has accumulated 7 or more absences so far this year, and ask that if you receive a letter, you try to take steps to ensure your child is in school as much as possible between now and the end of the school year. Some things you can do to improve school attendance:
Avoid traveling outside of school vacation weeks We urge you to really reconsider removing your child from a week or more of instruction to take a vacation. This is a long stretch and puts your child at a disadvantage- even if they are a higher achieving student- because they will have missed much new content and will have gaps. We do not excuse extended absences for travel.
Get to the heart of school avoidance Since the school closures, more and more children have needed more of a push to get out the door in the morning. We are working hard to make school a place that children want to be, and we rely on parents to share worries, fears, and concerns that a child may have that they may not be showing us. If your child is demonstrating school avoidance, we want to help and support them so that they want to come to school. Please be in touch with your child’s teacher, with Kathy Guertin, or with Lauren or Wendy if you need help and support getting your child happily to school.
Take steps to stay healthy If your child seems to catch everything that is going around, take steps to minimize the spread of germs. Wear a mask if you like, encourage hand sanitizing, and remind your child that we will allow him/her to wash hands whenever they like. Additionally, being mindful of sanitizing after participating in larger group or public activities can help reduce the spread of unwanted germs. Getting sick IS a part of being a young child, and we cannot eliminate that, but if your child has missed a lot of school this year due to illness, think about what steps you might be able to take to make him/her less likely to continue to catch illnesses.
We appreciate your help with your child‘s attendance, and we are happy to sit down to discuss special circumstances and ideas to promote better attendance with any family who would like to. Please reach out to us if we can be of assistance.
Warmly,
Lauren and Wendy
MCAS Testing Dates
English Language Arts Testing Grades 3 and 4: April 4th and 5th
Math Testing Grades 3 and 4: May 16th and 17th
Memorial Elementary School
Upton, MA 01568
Email: wbell@mursd.org
Website: https://www.mursd.org/o/memorial-elementary
Phone: 508-529-1020
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MemorialUpton
Twitter: @wlbell630