Written by By Frank Mecham 

Missing a few days a month from school might not seem like much.

However, according to Euclid City Schools and the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, missing just two days a month from school, or 10% of the school year, can have a significant detriment on student success.

While students from any social economic group can become chronically absent, the Ohio’s Department of Education and Workforce states that students that are economically disadvantaged or students that are experiencing homelessness tend to miss more days than their peers.

According to the Ohio Department of Education, directly following the pandemic in 2021, Euclid City Schools had a chronic absenteeism rate of 72.7 percent compared to the state’s average of 30 percent. The rate compared to pre-pandemic is higher, a trend which is being seen in many schools across the state, according to the Ohio Department of Education.

One way that Euclid City Schools is attempting to tackle attendance is with the help of the Cleveland Browns.

“We’ve partnered with the Cleveland Browns’ Stay In The Game initiative and Harvard University’ Proving Ground to tackle student absenteeism. As a result, our District’s Chronic Absenteeism rate has seen a significant downward trend, with an 11% decrease in the last two school years,” a release from Euclid City Schools stated. “While Chardon Hills had the best attendance rates, Bluestone showed remarkable progress, particularly in the 4th quarter, with a 9% decrease from the second quarter.  This is thanks to the innovative attendance interventions and hard work by their respective staff.”

According to the release, the Cleveland Browns “Stay in the Game!” network provides different rewards for students that regularly attend school, including tickets to games, having tours of the Browns facility, creating a title of “kick-off Kids” and even having the girls flag football team play at the halftime of the Browns’ first preseason game. And those efforts help keep kids stay interested in attending classes.

While sports stars might be in the limelight, Euclid Schools said it is also trying to manage the problem of class cuts. By partnering with Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy and Research, they said that more targeted approaches will be used to communicate with parents and help aid students in reaching their educational goals.

“At the high school level, we are also addressing the challenge of class cuts,” the district stated in the release. “The Proving Ground core team is actively implementing targeted attendance interventions, such as direct communication with parents through the Parent Square App, which is linked to Infinite Campus, to promptly address class cuts and other absences.

“A special shoutout goes to our 4th, whose efforts resulted in the highest Average Daily Attendance rate of any grade level in the district for six consecutive months.”