LTHS Attendance Crackdown Spikes Discipline Referrals: Official

LA GRANGE, IL – A year ago, Lyons Township High School officials promised to focus again on enforcing attendance policies. They appear to have kept their word.

In the 2022-23 year, the school reported 457 referrals for unexcused absences, shooting up from just 15 a year earlier, according to the latest discipline report.

For all types of attendance and tardiness issues, referrals increased to 7,033 last school year, up from 2,661 a year before, a jump of more than 250 percent.

A year ago, Principal Jennifer Tyrrell acknowledged a big drop in attendance referrals. She said the school would recommit to enforcement.

"Throughout the pandemic, we walked away from some of our handbook language around attendance," she said at the time. "That's something that contributed a bit to the increase."

At Monday's school board meeting, Leslie Owens, the school's student services director, said the school has increased communications with families of students who are having attendance and tardiness issues.

"You might remember about the renewed commitment to behavior and attendance policies and a whole new tardy policy," she told the board. "We believe those changes led to a huge increase in referrals."