Student Success Story: Attendance Ambassador helps curb chronic absence in Bethlehem school

Nevaeh, a third-grade student at William Penn Elementary School in Bethlehem, started the 2017-18 school year regularly coming into school late. Thanks to the work of a new Attendance Ambassador and our United Way Community School Coordinator, Neveah starting laying her clothes out at night, setting an alarm and showing up for school on-time.

“I learned that being on time is important. If you don’t come to school, you’re not going to get good grades,” said Nevaeh.

Nevaeh’s healthy new habits formed after joining the “Lunch Bunch,” led by Attendance Ambassador Emily Spora. An education major from Moravian College, the United Way Community Partner for William Penn Elementary School, Spora spends four days a week at the school for a total of 8 to 10 hours per week. In addition to creating school-wide attendance competitions and incentive programs, she launched “Lunch Bunch” for a group of five students who were at risk of becoming chronically absent. In all, her efforts have helped to fuel a significant reduction in chronic absenteeism, one of the largest decreases in the Bethlehem Area School District during the 2017-18 school year.



“Chronic absence is defined as missing 10 percent or about 18 days of school for any reason,” said Mike Sheridan, Education Capacity Building Manager for United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley (UWGLV). “With the Challenge 5 campaign, we work with partners to focus on both community-based and school-based strategies to encourage all kids to strive for less than five absences – excused or unexcused – all year.”

At weekly “Lunch Bunch,” Spora would design a new activity such as a board game or rap competition aimed at teaching students about the importance of attendance.

“They don’t realize that attendance is required by law. Just because it’s raining, you can’t miss school. Or just because it’s snowing, you can’t miss school. Or just because I don’t feel l like going, I can’t miss school. So that education helped them a lot,” said Spora.

“You have to get to the root of the problem and help the whole child. They need to understand why and how they can do it. Maybe getting an alarm clock or rain boots can help, but sometimes there are deeper problems. Sometimes kids don’t have clothes to wear, sometimes there’s issues within the home that prevent them from coming to school,” she continued.

Working one-on-one with the students, Spora would collect the information and share it with Community School Coordinator Greer Hockemeier.

“We can call home and say, ‘How can we help?’ Not, ‘Your kid hasn’t been in school.’ That’s our goal: to help,” said Hockemeier. “For example, a fifth-grade boy shared with the group that he didn’t have anything to wear and was struggling with depression. So, we worked to get clothes donated for him, connected him with our counselor and got him a referral to an outside agency.”

“It’s pretty amazing to see the reduction in chronic absence. On a personal basis, to see some of the individual students who have been absent for 53 days two years in a row down to 20 days this year, that’s something to celebrate,” Hockemeier added.

United Way will share lessons learned with all 28 Community Schools in hopes of reducing chronic absence throughout the Greater Lehigh Valley.

To learn more about Challenge 5: Strive for Less than Five or to become a Challenge 5 partner, contact Mike Sheridan at 610.807.5751.