Ector County ISD’s attendance rates have dipped from what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, so Superintendent Scott Muri is encouraging families to send their children to school.
During his weekly media call Wednesday, he said ECISD’s current attendance rate is 91.5 percent. Pre-pandemic in 2018-19, it hovered around 95 to 96 percent of students showing up for school daily.
The 91.5 percent rate is “very low,” Muri said.
“The concern that we have is the direct correlation between a child’s attendance and a child’s success in school. When children are not attending school regularly, it affects their ability to be successful in their courses. It affects their ability to learn. It affects their ability to graduate on time,” Muri said.
“In fact, there’s a direct correlation between low student attendance and high school dropout rate. We want to make sure that all of our children are attending school on a daily basis. Certainly our parents are aware that if a child is sick we do not want them at school. But today, COVID has subsided significantly in our community. We recognize that there may be … family issues or things that come up, but we’ve proven in the past that our students can attend school every day and we need to make sure that we return to that.”
Muri stressed that school is five days a week and that attendance in Texas is compulsory.
“It is not an option for children not to attend school,” he said. “It is required by law that kids up through the age of 18 are attending school on a daily basis. So again, parents please make sure that your children are in attendance on a daily basis. That will certainly help them be much more successful during their school journey and then in life.”
Muri said low attendance is a nationwide problem right now.
“Really it’s an effect of COVID and our families just got out of the habit, if you will, of sending their kids to school on a regular basis. Mom and dad got out of the habit; the kids got out of the habit and now we fully expect them to be attending on a regular basis,” Muri said.
He added that it’s not something that’s impacting ECISD alone.
“As school systems, we’re trying to work with our families to encourage them to have regular attendance. That’s the primary reason. We don’t have an illness happening in our community. Nothing is really discouraging that. It’s simply getting back in the habit of kids attending school daily,” Muri said.
Asked if the string of violence and threats has lowered attendance, Muri said it could have, but low attendance is something his colleagues nationwide are dealing with.
“But to your point, we’ve had a nationwide surge in school violence and I’m sure that that does have an effect on some of our families, but I think much of it is getting back in the habit of kids and families recognizing that school is, once again, five days a week and kids need to be physically present every day in order to learn,” he said.
“There may be a lot of subcategories and a lot of other reasons that families on any given day may not be attending school,” Muri added.
He noted that Friday and Monday tend to be low attendance days — “people taking a long weekend when we don’t have a long weekend.”
The state’s snapshot days to which school funding is tied are in October and March.
“The state takes a snapshot of how many kids we are serving in our schools. That is how we are funded on those snapshot days. Certainly Texas ties funding to school attendance, but for us the primary reason is academics. There’s a direct correlation between a child’s success in school and how much they attend school, how many days they’re physically present. And in Texas, it’s the law. Our students are required to attend school and so that compulsory education law is in effect,” Muri said.
He added that World Teacher Day was Oct. 5 and is a chance to reflect on a teacher who had a positive impact on you or your children or is a friend or neighbor.
Muri said this is a time to reach out to those teachers and let them know how much you appreciate them.
This is also rivalry week in ECISD as Odessa and Permian high schools face off in football Friday.
There is also a long weekend coming up. Everyone is off Monday for Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day.
