Radford board tightens attendance rule, celebrates improved attendance and honors 13 perfect‑attendance students

The Radford City School Board honored 13 students for perfect attendance and discussed new steps to reduce chronic absenteeism, including a proposed change to the division's attendance regulation that would reduce parent‑call allowable absences from 10 to 8 days.

At the June 9 meeting, staff announced that Bell Heath was the school with the highest attendance this year and that the district ended the year with average daily attendance in the mid‑90s for several schools. Administrators said the division’s chronic‑absentee metric has improved to roughly 88.5 percent, and they credited incentives—weekly teacher prizes, drawings at elementary schools, and high‑school flex hours—for increased attendance. "We have 13 students across the district that has not missed a minute of school. 170 days they were there the whole time," a staff member said while presenting awards.

Separately, district leaders described a committee recommendation to change a regulation so that parent‑call allowed absences drop from 10 to 8 days. The staff rationale was to allow earlier intervention—principals and front‑office staff would contact families sooner so supports can be put in place before truancy board or judicial steps are needed. Dr. McDaniel and other board members said the move is intended to preserve instructional time for students and keep families better engaged.

Board members applauded the perfect‑attendance students and noted summer and fall outreach plans—including a July book‑bus and math‑mobile event—to maintain momentum. No formal vote was required for the regulatory tightening at the meeting; staff said the change will be rolled out by principals and communicated to families.