Each school year, Omaha Public School attendance rate continues to drop due to students being absent, which affects staff, faculty and students themselves. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance became a problem as students did not attend school or interact with peers, leading to 10% of students missing substantial instructional time. According to the REGISER data, in 23-24 40.2 percent of students in all grade levels from OPS were chronically absent two years ago  

“The risk chronic absentee students face is not graduating on time, or they can be involved in the legal system if they miss a lot of days,” Dean of students Dr. Jason Rhine said. “How long a student can be absent for before escalation is 20 days.” 

 Students miss school due to several reasons like a lack of support, unaddressed issues at home, mental health, a lack of a connection at the school and family responsibilities  

“I think attendance is important because I like my students here; if they come to school it will be a better solution,” English teacher Paul Callahan said. “Helping a student re-engage with learning is mostly about patience and flexibility with reason.”  

There are consequences if a student misses a lot of school days. If a student misses more than 10 school days with unexcused absences in a school year, a student or parent could face legal penalties like fines or criminal charges.  

“How do I feel about attendance or the threat of legal action? I feel like it’s the appropriate thing to do,” junior Than Htway said “It is your fault that you’re absent and you must go to court because of that. It’s your responsibility as a student to tell the school what you’re doing and why you can’t come to school.” 

According to Benson’s student statistics, 10 percent of students are missing one or two weeks which can make learning state-level reading and math skills harder on the path to achieve academic success. Attendance is counted by minutes; late arrivals or early checkouts have resulted in minutes that add up, and every absence excused or unexcused absence is missing instructional time.