Students in Norfolk Public Schools are encouraging each other to show up at school every day as part of an attendance challenge. Norfolk Public Schools started the "School-to-School Attendance Challenge" campaign during the 2022-23 school year to establish an engaging approach to bringing awareness to chronic absenteeism and its effects on student outcomes.
The campaign's message is simple: If you miss school, you miss out! This year's challenge kicked off at Booker T. Washington High School on Oct. 14. “The Mighty Bookers” paraded the symbolic attendance flag to Richard Bowling Elementary School for the hand-off (or “tapping”) for the next week. Students at the elementary school will pass the flag on to another school, which remains a secret until the tapping occurs on Friday.
According to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of the academic year for any reason, including excused absences, unexcused absences, and suspensions. That equates to 18 days per school year or 2 to 3 days per month. Chronic absenteeism may result in low academic achievement, which includes difficulty learning to read by the third grade. Chronic absenteeism is also a powerful predictor of dropout rates and has been linked to poor outcomes later in life.
“This attendance campaign brings an element of fun and friendly competition to support our schools and students as we try to help remove barriers to daily, punctual school attendance,” said Superintendent Dr. Sharon I. Byrdsong.
“We have division-wide policies and practices in place to address truancy and chronic absenteeism; however, we wanted to go beyond the school-to-student interaction by involving students’ families and the community because we truly believe combatting chronic absenteeism requires an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach,” she said.
Schools can get as creative as they want with the challenge. Past creative approaches have ranged from principals and teachers being “pied” with whipped cream and plunged into dunking booths to student-created chants, songs, and raps meant to raise awareness.
As a result of the division’s efforts, the chronic absenteeism rate decreased from 23.4% in school year 2022-23 to 18.1% in school year 2024-25.
“Ultimately, we want our scholars to know that we sincerely want them to come to school, be ready to learn, and then go out into the world and do great things in life,” Dr. Byrdsong said.
Visit Norfolk Public Schools's Facebook page to see which school gets tapped to receive the symbolic attendance flag next.
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