Both South Panola and North Panola School districts have higher rates of chronic absenteeism than the state average, and improving those numbers will likely be high on the agendas of leaders in all schools across the county in the coming academic year.

SP Superintendent Del Phillips agreed the latest numbers available (from the 2022-23 academic year) are not encouraging at some of the district’s schools, but confirmed that a significant improvement has been made and will be reflected in the next report.

“You are going to see much better numbers because the district has made a lot of progress in attendance,” Phillips said. “At the high school we actually went from about fourth worst in the state to somewhere in the middle (among all districts) during the 2023-24 school year so it’s better now. Of course we want every student at school every day and that’s what our administrators and teachers work for.”

Phillips said the improvement came when the Mississippi Department of Education approved a salaried School Attendance Officer for the district last year, giving local administration a person dedicated to the position.

“Since Covid the district did not have that position funded, so when we got that back it made a real difference,” he said.

State Auditor Shad White recently released a Chronic Absenteeism Report that showed over all, Mississippi’s chronic absenteeism rate surged since the pandemic, and some schools are making progress on returning to the pre-Covid percentages.

According to the state, a student who misses 10% or more of their school days, which averages to just two days a month, for any reason, is considered chronically absent. Every absence, excused or unexcused, (including suspensions), is a learning opportunity lost, education officials say.

In 2019, Mississippi compared favorably to its border states with a 14% chronic absentee rate. But by 2023, Mississippi outpaced its border states with a 24.7% chronic absentee rate, a 76.4% increase.

A review of academic literature shows students who are chronically absent have an increased chance of dropping out of school, which leads to a higher likelihood of getting arrested or relying on social services later in life. 

Analysts estimate that the number of students who were chronically absent before dropping out of school in AY 2023 alone will cost the Mississippi economy $550 million over time.

The latest figures in the Mississippi Department of Education’s report on chronic absenteeism are from the 2022-23 school year. The MDE will release numbers from the last school year – 2023-24 later in the fall. 

During the 2022-23 school year, South Panola 1,667 chronically absent students, which is 37.2% of the district’s enrollment.  

In the South Panola district, the upper grades had the highest percentages with the high school having 678 of 1,219 students (55.6%) absent more than the allowed days, and the junior high with 348 of 871 students (39.9%) regularly missing school.

The elementary and intermediate schools in the South Panola district ranged from 25 to 29 percent absenteeism.

The North Panola numbers were slightly lower, with 426 students counted as chronically absent, or 32.9%. According to the state’s figures, 194 of 397 North Panola High School students (48.8%) are not meeting attendance requirements.

Some 107 of 209  NP middle school students (37%) were absent. Like South Panola, the lower grades had better attendance. Como Primary School had the best attendance percentage of all county schools with just 18.9% of students being chronically absent.

In surrounding districts, the numbers were:

Quitman – 24.3%

Tate – 30.7%

Senatobia – 23.7%

Water Valley – 13.5%

Oxford – 23.7%

Lafayette – 21.6 %

In the report released by White last week, his office made several recommendations for the state to consider to help lower absenteeism that include altering the Mississippi School Accountability Ratings to include attendance; pass laws that link driver’s license privileges to school attendance; and reorganize and hire more school attendance officers. 

“We pump a ton of taxpayer money into our K-12 school system, but it does no good if the students’ tails are not in the seats,” White said in a press release. “Now is the time to address this before the problem gets worse.”

The full report can be found under the “Reports” tab on the Auditor’s website and searching “absenteeism.”