Rochester schools present detailed attendance update as chronic absenteeism rises

Rochester Public Schools officials told the school board on Oct. 21 that 64.9% of students met the district—s definition of "consistent attendance" (attending more than 90% of enrolled days), and outlined data-cleaning steps and new interventions aimed at reducing chronic absenteeism.

The district described why the issue matters and what it is doing about it. Superintendent Kent Pickell introduced the presentation and said board members had previously made consistent attendance a central performance measure for the district's strategic work.

Angie McCandrews, a district staff member leading the attendance presentation, defined the key terms for the board: "consistent attendance is defined as a student who is present for more than 90% of the time," she said, adding that the district counts excused and unexcused absences the same for the 90% calculation. McCandrews told the board that, for Rochester, 90% of 168 instructional days equals roughly 16.8 absences per year before a student falls below the threshold.

The presentation said Rochester's 90%-or-better consistent-attendance rate for 2024-25 was 64.9% (district-calculated), and that the district sees higher rates of…