Good morning, Parents.

I hope everyone had a very nice spring break.  

I want to start this message by sharing a couple of personal stories as they relate to an idea we want to try in May.  

The first story goes back about a month when I ran into a friend who runs a small business.  As we were both getting coffee in the morning, I asked him how his business was doing, and he responded that business was great but it was frustrating that he was having difficulty hiring enough people, and some of those he had working for him were just not reliable in terms of coming to work each day.  He shared that these two issues were literally holding his business back in a strong economy.  That interaction was a good reminder for me that if we (parents and teachers) want our students to be as prepared as possible for success in their futures, the habits of being reliable in terms of attendance are a pretty basic and important part of being fully prepared to be successful.  My friend reminded me that even skilled and hard working employees who are unreliable in terms of coming to work are a problem for employers.  

My second story occurred when I was working with seniors in the Student Led Conference process.  Each senior shared their work related to their planning steps as they transition from OHS to the next chapter of their lives, and one senior in particular shared his plans to enter the workforce and the steps he had in place with his resume and plans to apply at a few companies.  He had done a really thorough job of researching and deciding on his options, and as I listened to his presentation I was also looking at his high school transcript.  I noticed that as of about 2/3’s of the way through his senior year, he had only seven absences in those nearly four years.  So I asked him, “What does this transcript indicate is a huge strength of yours that would make virtually any future employer much more eager to hire you?”  He did not recognize that his strong record of reliable attendance would be an important characteristic he should point out when interviewing because it is highly valued by employers.  

In order to try to emphasize the importance of reliable attendance both in terms of success at school, and as a predictor of our futures habits as an employee, we are going to experiment with publishing an “Attendance Honor Roll” in May.  Any student, freshmen thru senior, who has had three or less absences during the school year will meet the standard to be on the honor roll.  We want to honor them publicly, and celebrate this important characteristic.    Maybe some of our local companies will take note as they hire students for the summer.  Enjoy the rest of the week,

Scott
PS–Third Quarter report cards will be posted in Infinite Campus at the end of the day on Thursday, April 4th.