Santa Rosa City Schools has released its annual attendance rates for 2011-12, tallied by school.
Here is are the average rates of absenteeism (ranked highest to lowest) on each campus:
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Brook Hill, 5 percent
Steele Lane, 4.94 percent
Doyle Park, 4.71 percent
Monroe, 4.57 percent
Lincoln, 4.24 percent
Biella, 3.91 percent
Burbank, 3.46 percent
Hidden Valley Satellite, 3.37 percent
Helen Lehman, 3.31 percent
Hidden Valley, 3.28 percent
Proctor Terrace, 3.17 percent
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Cook Middle School, 6.79 percent
Comstock, 5.59 percent
Santa Rosa, 5.17 percent
Slater, 5.08 percent
Rincon Valley, 3.39 percent
HIGH SCHOOL
Elsie Allen, 8.32 percent
Piner, 6.10 percent
Santa Rosa, 5.41 percent
Montgomery, 5.12 percent
Maria Carrillo, 3.92 percent
On the middle and high school campuses, there is a direct correlation between the rate of absences and the rate of poverty among students. Elsie Allen has the highest rate of student poverty among high schools in the district and it also has the higest absentee rate. Conversely, Maria Carrillo has the fewest students living in poverty and the lowest rate of abstenteeism.
The same holds true on middle school campuses: Cook has the highest rate of poverty and the highest rate of absenteeism, while Rincon Valley has the lowest rates in both categories.
Why are these numbers important, aside from the notion that every minute in the classroom counts toward a student’s education? Because according to the district, each 1 percent fluctuation in actual attendance has an impact of $837,000 on the district’s budget.