From Mayor Jasiel F. Correia II
and
Fall River Superintendent of Schools, Matthew H. Malone, Ph.D.
Proclamation of September as Attendance Awareness Month
Whereas good attendance is essential to student achievement, and
WHEREAS good attendance is a proven predictor of academic success and high school completion, and
WHEREAS good attendance increases reading proficiency, leads to course completion and eventual graduation, strengthening our community as well as our local economy, and
WHEREAS, good attendance helps to reduce the achievement gap that separates students who attend school regularly from those who do not, and
WHEREAS all students – even those who attend school regularly – are affected by chronic absenteeism as teachers must spend valuable time reviewing lessons for students who miss lessons, and
WHEREAS improving attendance and reducing chronic absenteeism takes commitment, collaboration and tailored approaches to particular challenges and strengths in our community, and
WHEREAS school staff and community partners will reach out to chronically absent students to determine why they are missing school and what would help them attend more regularly, and
WHEREAS school staff and district administrators will track, calculate and share data on chronically absent students so we can deliver the right interventions collectively, and
WHEREAS chronic absence can be significantly reduced when school staff, family adults and communities work together to monitor and promote good attendance and address hurdles that keep students from getting to school,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that I, as the Mayor of the City of Fall River, along with the Superintendent of Fall River Schools, hereby proclaim that we stand with the nation in recognizing September as “Attendance Awareness Month”. And as such, we hereby commit to focus intensely on improving our attendance rate in order to give all of our students an equal opportunity to learn, grow and thrive, academically, socially and emotionally….because Attendance Matters - for every student every day!
Issued this Twelfth Day of September, Two Thousand Sixteen
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Mayor of Fall River, Jasiel F. Correia II
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Superintendent of Schools, Matthew H. Malone, Ph.D.