A North Carolina audit has uncovered several school districts -- including Henderson County -- failed to comply with student attendance laws during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In November 2021, the General Assembly passed a law requiring the state Department of Public Instruction to contract with the auditor’s office to analyze data on six districts — two large, two medium and two small. The auditor’s office chose Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Winston Salem/Forsyth, Johnston County, Robeson County, Henderson County and Hyde County.
According to the report released earlier this month, state attendance data was “not complete or accurate” for five of the six districts, leaving Henderson County as the only one to be fully analyzed.
During the 2020-21 school year, many students took online classes because schools weren't providing in-person instruction.
State Auditor Beth Wood’s report has sparked debate among state and school officials even as attendance and test scores have been improving.
"Instead of recommendations to get students back to school, our agency and six of our school districts have been unnecessarily reprimanded," state Superintendent Catherine Truitt said in a news release.
Henderson County Public Schools Superintendent Mark Garrett also took issue with the report.
"It is disappointing to go through an audit only to feel as though it was a wasted opportunity for improvement," Garrett said in a statement. "We would recommend that any future analysis pf student attendance be constructed in a manner that is beneficial to the organizations being monitored."
The audit found that 87% of the students in the Henderson County schools identified as chronically absent during the 2020-21 school year and didn't otherwise leave the system before the year's end were either promoted to the next grade or graduated from high school. Chronically absent was defined as someone who missed 10% or more of the days in which they were enrolled.
Auditors analyzed the attendance data for 13,044 students who attended district schools during the 2020-21 school year and determined that 7,071 of 13,044 (54%) students had three or more unexcused absences during that time.
According to the report, 2,563 (20%) of all students had between three and five unexcused absences, 1,620 (12%) of all students had between six and nine unexcused absences, and 2,888 (22%) of all students had 10 or more unexcused absences.
According to the report, Henderson County Public Schools had 1,647 (13%) chronically absent students during the 2020-21 school year, representing an increase from 4% of all students chronically absent in the 2019-20 school year and 8% in 2018-19.
Not only were 1,647 of 13,044 (13%) students chronically absent, 481 of 1,647 (29%) chronically absent students missed more than 45 days (more than a quarter) of the 2020-21 school year -- a significant increase compared to school years 2019-20 and 2018-19 when 34 (6.8%) and 91 (8.6%) chronically absent students missed more than 45 days of the school year.
Auditors analyzed 1,522 chronically absent students and determined 1,327 (87%) were either promoted to the next grade or graduated.
STORY & PHOTO COURTESY OF ABC 13 WLOSState, Henderson County educators blast COVID-19 school attendance report | WLOS
