Fremont Schools' Truancy Rate Slightly Below The State Average

About a fourth of Fremont public school students were reported as truant at least once during the past school year, according to information released by the state superintendent's office.

The district's rate is slightly below both the state average and the county average.

Truancy is defined as any student who misses 30 minutes or more of class time without a valid excuse at least three times in one school year.

Not surprisingly, high schools have the highest truancy rates.

Robertson Continuation had the highest rate in the district with 77 percent. It was followed by Kennedy High at 68 percent.

At the middle schools, Centerville Junior High had the highest rate at 36 percent. The rest of the middle schools all ranged between 20 and 28 percent.

At the elementary schools, the range was from a high of 23.9 percent at Maloney to a low of 8.9 percent at Gomes.

Rickey Jones, the district's director of pupil services, said truancy is on the decline in Fremont schools. He credited efforts by school employees as well as families understanding the importance of attending classes.

Jones said every campus has a School Attendence Review Process where school officials meet with students and parents if a student is having attendance problems.

The SARP staff will formulate a plan to help improve attendance. Cases where truancy continues to be a problem are referred to a district SARP team and, in some cases, the Fremont police department.

Jones said Kennedy High officials are conducting an in-depth review of student attendance and reinforcing the seriousness of the issues with students and parents. 

Below is a table from data gleaned from the state superintendent's website. You can view data on suspensions, expulsions and truancy for each individual school by clicking here.