ROYALSTON – Royalston Community School was recognized as one of 10 schools across the state named as Attendance All-Star schools for greatly reducing its chronic student absenteeism between March 1, 2023 and March 1, 2024.

In a letter to RCS Principal Carrie Charette, Russell Johnston, acting commissioner of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, explained that the state looked at schools with at least 100 students and a rate of chronic absenteeism less than 20% as of March 1 of this year. RCS, Johnston wrote, “was one of the top 10 in the state…”

According to information provided by school, chronic absenteeism dropped from 40.6% in the 2021-2022 school year to 7.3% in the 2023-2024 school year.

On Wednesday, Johnston visited RCS to commend the students and faculty and present the school with a golden basketball signed by members of the 18-time NBA champion Boston Celtics. The other nine schools honored by DESE also received a basketball signed by the team.

“We significantly improved our chronic absenteeism through open communication, trust, collaboration with our families and students, and community partner support,” said Charette, who just completed her first year at the helm of RCS. “As a district, all our schools experienced a reduction in chronic absenteeism. Each school focused on communicating to students and their families how important attendance is for academic, social, and emotional success.”

Charette then introduced RCS fifth-grader Maizy DeCosta, who was named the school’s student of the month last December.

“I think that there are a lot of great things about RCS,” said DeCosta. “Attendance is important for many reasons. First, good attendance will help you learn at school. Also, attendance is important because they do group projects so kids can build friendships. If someone is absent often they will miss a lot of time with friends and learning opportunities.”

Chronic absenteeism is defined as a student missing 10% or more of the school year. Johnston noted that the problem soared following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the pandemic, said Johnston, chronic absenteeism stood at about 14% of the school population statewide. Since then, he said, it jumped to more than 25%. As of March 2023, the statewide figure had been reduced to about 20%.

“So, from 25% to 20% in over one year is really good,” he continued. “I tell you that because I want you to know how this school has done. The numbers just knock my socks off and you all should be so proud of the work you’ve done.

“When you look at your attendance rate, through March 1 of this school year and compared that to one year earlier, we can see that you reduced the chronic absenteeism rate here by a vast amount. In 2023, one in four students at this school was chronically absent. But you reduced the chronic absenteeism rate by 20% in one year. The state reduced it by 5%, but you reduced it by 20%. That’s phenomenal.”

Johnston said his department decided to reach out to some of its partners, including the Celtics, “and they really agreed to help us celebrate schools like this one; the 10 schools in the state that showed the greatest improvement. I’m so pleased to celebrate RCS as one of them.”

Johnston then invited DeCosta to receive the signed basketball on behalf of RCS.

In closing, Charette thanked the staff, students, families, and community for their support of RCS.

“I am honored to be an Athol-Royalston Regional School District administrator and a part of the Royalston Community School family” she said. “Together, we can continue to provide our children with an educational experience that continues to foster a love of life-long learning.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@aol.com.