Many schools in Georgia have already opened their doors for the new school year and today it’s time for students in Gainesville City and Forsyth County schools to return to class.
Now, this comes one day after the state Department of Education (DOE) released statistics on chronic absenteeism in Georgia’s public schools for the last school year.
The data show that statewide 19.5 percent of students who were absent were absent ten percent of enrolled days.
For students in the Gainesville City School System (GCSS) that number was 17.1 percent and for the Hall County School District (HCSD), 22.3%. (Hall County students returned to class for the new year last Friday.)
Forsyth County, by the way, had one of the lowest chronic absenteeism rates in the state last year – 8.6%.
Click here for the numbers for every public school system in the state: Attendance – GaDOE Insights
During this year’s state legislative session lawmakers addressed the issue of chronic absenteeism, passing a law that defines students who miss at least 10% of school days as “chronically absent.” It also mandates that school systems with a chronic absentee rate of 10% or more, and individual schools with a rate of 15% or more, create attendance review teams.