Absences can be a huge problem among schools worldwide. Student’s not showing up to school is not a new concept but is something that administrators would like to prevent. 

DHS is now running a campaign to prevent this. It’s called Chronic Absenteeism and it is trying to lower student absences. To do this they are giving students the chance to win a free parking pass or some DHS merch. They announced this challenge on Monday, March 25th. This has motivated the majority of the freshman, sophomores and junior classes since seniors are leaving. A free parking pass is a great way to incentivize students to come to school since parking passes are expensive and hard to acquire. The thought is that giving students a chance to win some cool prizes will hopefully reduce absenteeism. We give credit for the project to Lucy Nass. She has had staff and district help but it is mostly in her hands. “The goal of this campaign is to promote student attendance and reward students for attending school,” said Nass. So, how it works is you enter your name on a slip of paper and turn it into the office, then you must show up to school for the next two weeks consecutively without any absences. 

Karla Sluis approached Nass to strive to get a student voice on chronic absenteeism. Karla works with the district and has been working with Nass to make this project happen. “Learning to be present in school will help you be present later in life, it’s a habit.” said Sluis. 

The broad point of this campaign is to try and get people to want to come to school. It’s understandable as to why students don’t enjoy coming to school but that’s what Sluis is trying to prevent. Her goal is to make school a place that students actually want to go to and can enjoy. So if you are wanting the chance to win some valuable prizes make sure to keep good attendance!