PORT ALLEN — While chronic absenteeism among Louisiana students rose during the 2023-2024 school year, it lowered in West Baton Rouge Parish.

According to data from the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE), nearly one in four students in the state was chronically absent from school. West Baton Rouge Parish Schools Superintendent Chandler Smith said his school system lowered their rate from 18 percent to 10.

WBRP Schools started an initiative to reduce chronic absenteeism last year with a grant from the state.

The school system partnered with Everyday Labs, a group that aims to reduce absenteeism across the country. The process began by first notifying parents about their children's attendance rate. District Attorney Tony Clayton and other local partners helped develop criteria for assisting those missing classes.

"We also implemented attendance recovery, so all of our schools now either hold attendance recovery after school or on Saturday and we also hold it in the summer," Smith said.

He said there is no limit to how many excused absences a student can have, but noted that students can only have 10 unexcused absences per year.

"If you pass 10, you must go to our attendance recovery. If you don't attend our attendance recovery, then we send you to either... Families in Need of Services, or our district attorney's office and truancy court."

Smith said the district has mostly seen more chronic absenteeism in middle and high school. He added that if a parent helps their student stop the habit at a younger age, it can lead to better attendance later in their scholastic life.

Brusly High School Principal Walt Lemoine said his school's attendance rate has gone up since the grant's funds were implemented.

"I felt like our attendance was good. We were at 92 percent to 93 percent. It had been around the same level, but now we're up to 94 percent to 95 percent," Lemoine said.

Smith says the next step is to get all schools in the parish above a 95 percent attendance rate. He said that they have rewards for students with good attendance rates.