South Callaway principal agrees to get blue mohawk if students meet attendance goal

As the school year wraps up this month, school administrators are keeping a close eye on attendance rates, working to meet the state's goal to have 90 percent of students in class 90 percent of the time. The possibility of meeting that goal has one Callaway principal both excited and maybe a bit nervous.

If South Callaway Elementary School meets its attendance goal, Principal Corey Pontius has promised to let students give him a blue mohawk on the last day of school, which is Monday.

"I'm excited because if I have to carry that out, then our building has met its goal," Pontius said.

Students suggested the deal to Pontius as an incentive for the school to meet its attendance goal by the end of the school year. At first, Pontius said he was not "keen" on the idea.

"After mulling over it, I thought, if they can get to that 90 percent, it's worth it," Pontius said.

In January, when a group of students first suggested the deal, Pontius said only 81 percent of elementary students had 90 percent attendance. He thought the deal would give students something to get excited about.

The school is currently right at its 90 percent goal. However, he added that it will come down to the last day because there are a handful of students in the elementary who can not miss any school these last few days of the semester without dropping below that 90 percent mark.

"It's within our grasp and a couple months ago I didn't think it would be," Pontius said. "For the students to grow and reach their potential, they have to be here. For us to be able to do our job as educators, we have to have students in our class each and every day."

Increasing attendance has been a high priority for the South Callaway R-II School District the last few years as it looks to further increase its Annual Performance Report score with the state. Superintendent Kevin Hillman compared the APR score to a district report card. The district saw an increase in its attendance rate last year, which caused its APR score to jump 9.4 percent, from 80 to 89.4 percent.

Administrators have updated the district's board of education on attendance at each meeting this year, letting them know when attendance rates drop and what initiatives are taken to improve. During those discussions, Hillman also highlighted the importance of attendance.

"Kids need to be here before they can learn," Hillman previously told the Fulton Sun. "We will work hard to have improvements where we can."

At Wednesday night's school board meeting, administrators reported to the board that the Early Childhood Learning Center attendance should be more than 95 percent this month, the elementary school is just below 90 percent, the middle school most likely will not make the 90 percent target and the high school is close to the 90 percent target, but may not finish at 90 percent or better.

With the state's 90 percent of students in class 90 percent of the time standard, Pontius said every hour of the day counts. Toward the end of the school year, he added that students are often taken out of school early or taken out of school for family lunches, which can add up if the student has already missed school during the year.

He added that the district has seen a lot of illness this year, which caused a much lower attendance during the winter months. Multiple district administrators reported low attendance rates to the school board during the winter months. In the elementary, Pontius said there were times when 20 students were out in one day for illness. The school has 180 students.

When it comes to attendance at the elementary, Pontius said students have worked hard and the school has made good progress the last few months. While the possibility of meeting that goal has Pontius excited, he said he is nervous about his new hair-do.

"It comes down to everyone continuing to be here," Pontius said.