Claremore gets failing grade for absenteeism; Sequoyah, Verdigris above state average
Claremore High School and Will Rogers Junior High School both scored an "F" for chronic absenteeism on the Oklahoma State Report Card.
Sequoyah and Verdigris' middle and high schools had better attendance than the state average during the 2023-2024 school year.
The Oklahoma Department of Education released its 2023-2024 report card of Oklahoma schools in December 2024. It's available online at oklaschools.com.
The report card considers a student chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of school days in a given year. During the 2023-2024 year, 80.97% of students in Oklahoma were not chronically absent. This was a 1% improvement from the previous year and bumped the state's absenteeism score up from an "F" to a "D."
The state rated Claremore, Sequoyah and Verdigris public schools' attendance as follows:
— Will Rogers Junior High School: 68.29% of students in good attendance (F)
— Claremore High School: 67.37% in good attendance (F)
— Sequoyah Middle School: 89.23% in good attendance (C)
— Sequoyah High School: 84.03% in good attendance (D)
— Verdigris Junior High School: 87.7% in good attendance (C)
— Verdigris High School: 87.12% in good attendance (C)
Bryan Frazier, superintendent of Claremore Public Schools, said chronic absenteeism isn't just a Claremore problem. He said schools and workplaces across the country are feeling the effects of COVID-19 pandemic in their attendance numbers.
"Absenteeism is a nationwide problem," Frazier said. "I don't want to speculate too much, but yeah, I think COVID does have something to do with that. I think that there was that time that people checked out, and it's true of even employment."
Chronic absenteeism has risen in Oklahoma since the pandemic. About 85% of Oklahoma students were in good attendance in 2018 and 2019; since 2022, that has dropped to about 80% each year (the state doesn't have data for the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 years).
Mike Payne, Verdigris' superintendent, said though his schools' attendance surpasses the state average, the pandemic put the district's attendance lower than he wants it to be. Payne said attendance could stay lower than pre-pandemic because COVID-19 conditioned families to keep kids home when they're sick.
"We've had so much flu and all kind of things, so our attendance is probably going to look a little different next year," Payne said. "But everybody's will be, right? ... We don't want [students] here with a 105 degree temperature."
Frazier said absenteeism is a particularly important issue at Claremore High School because the school operates on a block schedule. Students take four 90-minute classes a semester, meaning they miss more instruction with each absence than they would if classes were shorter.
Frazier wants to transition Claremore High School from a block schedule to a seven-period school day to remedy this. The Claremore Public Schools Board of Education took no action on a proposal to adopt a seven-period school day at a meeting in February.
Frazier said chronic absenteeism is largely out of the district's control — he said districts can encourage students to come to school, but can't force them to board the bus.
"It has to do with area culture and socio-economics," Frazier said. "... We have to do all we can to get kids here, but again, it's part of our grade that probably shouldn't be in there."
Many state lawmakers agree. Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, chairs the Senate Education Committee and has filed a bill to replace chronic absenteeism on the report card with a survey. Reps. Ellen Pogemiller, D-Oklahoma City, and Ronny Johns, R-Ada, have advanced similar bills.
Terry Saul, superintendent of Sequoyah Public Schools, said Sequoyah has developed a culture in which administrators, teachers and bus drivers all do their part to intervene when a student starts missing too much school.
"Our method has just been more contact, way, way, way more contact, even if that means a home visit, even if that means sometimes going out and picking a kid up with school resource officer," Saul said. "The fortunate thing at Sequoyah is you're not dealing with that many students, so it's easier to hone in on a smaller group of kids."
Denton Holland, Verdigris' technology director, said Verdigris also benefits attendance-wise from its small student population.
Holland said Verdigris will continue to prioritize improving its attendance rate.
"Attendance is a big deal because ... if the kid's not here, how are we going to teach them?" Holland said. "How are we going to educate the student that's not here? Societally, it's a growing problem everywhere."
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