The Feet to the Seat movement is to encourage students and teachers to show up on time everyday in order to fight the attendance problem in the district. Student absenteeism is a big problem across Arkansas with some schools having more than 50% of their students classified as chronically absent. Being present in class is key to understanding the material fully and being able to keep up with the other students. LRSD says “children who are chronically absent are less likely to read proficiently by the end of third grade, which is a key indicator toward future success.” Alongside the AR Campaign for Grade Level Reading, members of the board of education hope to curb unnecessary absences from students and teachers in order to promote learning and punctuality.
Absent rates are at an all time high in some schools, with the district’s F-graded schools having the highest amount of absent rates. Cynthia Howell of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette states that 53% of students at Hall High School are considered chronically absent. When a student misses too many days, they begin to fall behind and miss crucial work they should’ve been in class to receive. Once they miss enough days, their grades can drop and they can lose motivation to try hard in school since they’re unable to understand the lesson material. The problem with attendance is just starting to be recognized and is one of the main focuses- aside from ACT Aspire scores- to fix the failing schools’ letter grades. Howell says chronic absenteeism “not only has implications for the individual students...but also for the overall Little Rock district, which is nearing completion of its fifth year of operating under state control because of year-to-year poor achievement at some of its schools.”
Student absences are a huge problem in classrooms, but so are teacher absences. When a teacher misses a day of school they lose vital time to work with their students, ultimately wasting a day. Teachers missing days can be almost as bad as when students are absent because they aren't able to make any progress with the kids and instead have them deal with a substitute and busy work. I personally know what it’s like to have a teacher that isn’t present very often and it makes it very hard to get anything done in class. If teachers and students can work together to try to show up everyday, we can move on to more pressing issues and try to solve bigger problems in the district.
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