Attendance might sound simple—you come to school, you learn, you move toward your future. But for the leaders of Du Quoin CUSD 300, attendance has become one of the most complex and urgent challenges of the post-pandemic era. And while the reasons behind chronic absenteeism vary from family to family, one thing is clear: if students aren't in the building, nothing else works.

Sitting around the table are four people who know this deeply: High School Principal Eric Kirkpatrick, High School Assistant Principal Zach Jones, Middle School Principal Denise Woodsides, and Elementary School Principal Amanda Milam. Together, they are aligning efforts across all grade levels to bring attendance back into focus—and back into the community conversation.

Eric begins with the big picture. "In the last five years, we've seen attendance plummet," he says. Before COVID, Du Quoin typically sat between 93 and 95 percent. But in the years that followed, "we struggled to get above 90 percent." The state defines any student below 90 percent as chronically absent—a threshold that sounds generous until you do the math. Eighteen missed days a year drops a student into that category.

Zach explains the heart of the issue: "The first step is coming to school." Every academic struggle, every behavioral challenge—none of it can be addressed if students aren't present.

One of the biggest shifts this team has made is consistency. Denise, who previously served as the high school assistant principal, recognized a disconnect between expectations at different levels. "We didn't all follow the same game plan," she says. Now, doctor's notes, absence policies, and accountability systems match across buildings. That alignment has removed confusion and set clearer expectations for families.

But structure isn't the whole story. As Amanda points out, many families—especially younger parents—may not fully understand the impact of missed days. "We have a lot of young parents," she says. Some families are in the process of breaking generational cycles. Others are creating them. When a child reaches five unexcused absences, her team steps in with a meeting focused on support, not punishment. "Most parents want what's best for their kids," she says.

Before the Regional Office of Education becomes involved, Zach leads a truancy intervention team that meets with parents first, seeking root causes and workable solutions. The tone is clear: this is about partnership, not blame.

At the elementary level, incentives help. Amanda's school holds monthly ceremonies with certificates and prizes—from donated Pizza Hut coupons to produce boxes to holiday lights tickets. Community partners like Tomahawk Grill, Farm Fancy, Indian Village, Fenton's Custom & Collision, Bianco's, Keenan Rice, and the Volunteer Foundation step up with donations that spark excitement.

At the high school, the incentive structure shifts. A twenty-foot banner celebrating the junior class for winning the first nine-week attendance challenge hangs in the commons. Exam exemptions—newly tied to attendance, not just grades—are proving powerful motivators.

Eric is honest about what drives the work: "What's the old saying? What gets attention gets results. So we're just trying to put some attention on it." Attendance appears in announcements every day, in bold and italics. "That may not seem like you're doing much," he says, "but the more you talk about it, the more you put it in the forefront."

And they're trying to make school a place students want to be. "We have to make it a place they want to show up to every morning," Eric says. "We have to make it a place that's inviting." For some students, school provides a safer, more predictable environment than home. "A lot more than you'd probably admit," Eric says.

Programs like John A. Logan College's Promise initiative, which begins this year with Du Quoin's eighth graders, tie college tuition support directly to attendance expectations. Students must maintain 90 percent attendance and re-sign the promise every year. "If the attendance requirement isn’t met, you don't move on," Eric says. "That's a big deal–missing out on free college tuition."

The message this team wants their community to hear is simple: attendance is everybody's work. The district is naming the problem, talking about it daily, measuring it clearly, and building a united response. This isn't about punishment. It's about giving every child the chance to succeed—because when students are present, engaged, and supported, the whole community moves forward.