Leland School Park Middle School receives award

Lt. Governor Hosemann recently recognized 175 schools, one of which was Leland School Park Middle School, and twelve school districts across Mississippi for chronic absenteeism of fifteen percent or less during the 2023- 2024 school year. Each received a “Lt. Governor’s Attendance Award” and letter honoring their achievement.

Hosemann has identified tackling chronic absenteeism in Mississippi schools as a priority for the 2025 Legislative Session. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing more than eighteen days (ten percent) of the school year for any reason, including excused absences, unexcused absences and suspensions.

Mississippi’s chronic absenteeism rate for the 2023-2024 school year was 24.4 percent. While the rate is lower than some other states, it is still more than ten percentage points above the state’s thirteen percent rate during the 2018-2019 school year.

“The goal should be for every school in Mississippi to reach its pre-pandemic rate, and then keep trending downward. When children are in the classroom, they are safe, and they are learning,” Hosemann said. “This award is meant to celebrate schools concentrating on bringing their attendance rates up and encourage others to set the same goal.”

Hosemann has cited several possible solutions to address chronic absenteeism in the 2025 Session, including:

• Restricting the use of cellphones in public schools, which has been shown in recent years to severely impact student mental health, particularly during classroom instruction;

• Moving school attendance officers from the Mississippi Department of Education to district-level supervision to encourage better personal relationships between the district, parents, students, the wider community, courts and law enforcement;

• Increasing school attendance officer salaries, which currently start at $24,528.29 in Mississippi; and

• Encouraging low-performing schools, which often have high chronic absenteeism rates, to consider moving to a modified calendar. A modified calendar more evenly disperses school days throughout the year, provides more short breaks during the school year, and shortens the summer, when students often experience learning loss.