By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Hays school staff recently called absenteeism an epidemic.
School administrators and the school board discussed the issue at the August board retreat.
Chronic absenteeism for Hays USD 489 in 2024-25 was 16.7%. It increased to 20.67% for the 2025-26 school year.
The state average is 17.87%.
In Kansas, chronic absenteeism for a typical 170-to-180-day school year is defined as missing 10% of school days or about 17 to 18 days. That also equates to about two unexcused absences per month.
“The reason we keep tracking … is that it shows if you're currently absent, you're less likely to be successful. If it happens early on, you're less likely to be reading at grade level. You're less likely to graduate,” Assistant Superintendent Shanna Dinkel said.
“It doesn't matter why you're gone. When you're gone, you're gone. So we are not trending in the right direction.”
The principals said several contributing factors were common among students who were chronically absent, including mental health issues, family issues and lack of transportation.
O’Loughlin Elementary School Principal Renee Burns said attendance remains a concern at her school.
“We've definitely spent a lot of time talking about better ways to get parents, get families what they need,” she said.
The state will not reimburse the district for bus service unless a child lives more than 2.5 miles from school. She said the district has also struggled to hire and retain bus drivers.
Burns said school staff members, including herself, have personally stepped in to pick up children when needed.
She said students also struggle with mental health issues, even at elementary school ages.
Children have been so nervous about going to school, they have thrown up in the parking lot, she said. Other children are so nervous, they won’t come into the school building.
“I have to go either get them, or I'm out in the car talking them through to get them into the building,” Burns said.
O’Loughlin has developed the Woo Woo Wagon to encourage attendance. Children with 100% attendance for the month can choose a prize, such as a bag of chips, from the wagon.
However, Burns admitted that, at this age, the burden of getting children to school largely rests with parents.
“We are just focusing on attendance and finding ways to meet families where they're at and get them to school,” Burns said.
She said the school has a full-time counselor and support specialist, who both help with some of those family issues.
“I would say that still is not meeting the needs,” Burns said.
“But so many of us, like myself, are not trained in mental health at all. I'm supporting families. I have very little knowledge of how to do that. I'm doing my best, and I'm learning a lot at a rapid pace.”
Burns said the counselor and support specialist can refer families to community mental health providers. However, she said time between referral and treatment can be lengthy, and some families bounce from one provider to the next.
All schools have a policy to address chronic absenteeism.
The schools send a letter about the absences and then require a parent meeting. Parents and students are asked to sign an attendance contract with the school if the issue persists.
However, Burns said she has had instances where parents pull their students out of school because of absenteeism issues, just to reenroll them the following fall.
She said those students have likely fallen further in their skills in the interim.
School board member and former district teacher, Jayme Goetz, asked why the district had to be responsible for this issue.
She asked why parents weren’t being held responsible and why the courts weren’t becoming involved.
“I mean, we think it's an expectation on us,” Burns said, “but we truly care about the kid too, and we're trying because we want them there.
“It's a lot more work when they're not there because then we've got to catch them up, right? … I mean, we could easily just write them off and say, ‘OK, go to court, but that's not what we're in business to do.”
Burns said last year she did not refer any students to the courts for truancy.
Board President Curt Vajnar also asked at what point is it not the district’s responsibility to take care of children and families’ mental health needs.
“Can we spend enough money to save them all? And at what point is this the line?” he asked.
Burns said, “I guess because it does feel like I'm trying to conquer the world because I truly love these individuals, and it's very disheartening because I can't.”
One of Hays Middle School’s goals last school year was to decrease chronic absenteeism, which was 15.6%, by 3%. The school reduced the rate by .6%.
“We really wanted to build relationships and parent communication, and we felt like just doing that part helped us,” Albers said.
Board member and former Hays Middle School principal Craig Pallister said he was concerned about funding for mental health support in schools. The Kansas Legislature has discussed cutting funding for these supports.
Hays Middle School has a mental health support group conducted by an outside therapist, but it meets at the school.
Hays High Principal Shawn Henderson said the school is addressing both absenteeism and tardies.
He said the school is focusing on responsibility-centered discipline.
The school hung posters beside the clocks in all classrooms to remind students of the tardy policy.
Becky Hickert, Hays High assistant principal, said anxiety is also a significant reason for absenteeism at the high school, as well as family issues and transportation.
Some families take vacations and take kids out of school, the staff said.
Other students have younger siblings in the family they have to care for.
“There is not an educational conference that happens in the United States that people are not talking about attendance,” Henderson said.
Hickert added, “The word used is an epidemic.”
Henderson added, “We have really strong teachers because we have people that make it to where they want to come to school, at least we hope so. We try to remove the barriers when that's there. So we try to have real conversations with family, and they're hard.”
The high school requires students to make up time they have missed because of an unexcused absence in ISS or detention. They also have parent and student attendance contracts, Henderson said.
Henderson said students might miss because of standing mental or physical therapy.
Other students are missing because of part-time jobs.
“So I think a lot of it is just helping students understand the implications of missed instructional time, and also working with the family on how to remove the barrier,” Henderson said.