SCRIPT August 29, 2019

Principals' Message

Dear CMA Families,

Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year! We are excited to embark on the new school year together. To ensure your student has a strong year, we want to emphasize the importance of consistent, on time, daily attendance. Our goal this year is to make sure that every student attends school consistently. 

Daily attendance has a significant impact on a student's academic success starting in Kindergarten and continuing through high school.

Even as children grow older and more independent, families play a key role in making sure students get to school safely every day and understand why attendance is so important for success in school and in life. Research has shown that students who miss as little as two days per month of school are likely to fall behind academically and feel disconnected from school. Therefore, we are committed to working collaboratively with parents/guardians to remove any attendance barriers and make strong attendance a reality for each student. 

We realize some absences are unavoidable due to health problems or other circumstances. We also know that when students miss too much school - regardless of reason - it can cause them to fall behind academically. Your child is less likely to succeed if he/she is chronically absent - which means missing 18 or more days over the course of the school year. 

Below we have listed some alarming facts on students who are chronically absent from school.

• Children chronically absent in Kindergarten & 1st grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade.
• By 6th grade, chronic absence is a proven early warning sign for students at risk for dropping out of high school.
• More than 8 million children in the U.S. will miss more than 3 weeks of school in a given school year.
  
• When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating.  

Please reach out to Ms. Canady, Mrs. Weingarten, or anyone on the Leadership Team if your family needs support getting your child to school everyday on time! 

With Gratitude, 

Mrs. Weingarten & Ms. Canady