Classmates talk over breakfast at Highland Elementary School on Friday, Sept. 7. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
As Salem students head back to school, the district is launching a campaign to improve student attendance.
Early efforts are focusing on North Salem High School, where half the student body is chronically absent, and the schools that feed into it. Those schools are home to more low-income families than the district as a whole.
At Highland Elementary, 117 students, about 31 percent of the student body, are chronically absent. That’s the second highest rate among elementary schools in Salem Keizer.
A Highland Elementary School student races off the school bus on Friday, Sept. 7. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
Highland Elementary students walk to school on Friday, Sept. 7. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
Highland Elementary students walk to school on Friday, Sept. 7. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
A Highland Elementary student rides to school on Friday, Sept. 7. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
Highland Elementary students walk to school on Friday, Sept. 7. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
Highland Elementary students walk to school on Friday, Sept. 7. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
Classmates talk over breakfast at Highland Elementary School on Friday, Sept. 7. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
Students go over classwork at Highland Elementary School on Friday, Sept. 7. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
Students go over classwork at Highland Elementary School on Friday, Sept. 7. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
Students enter North Salem High School on Friday, Sept. 7. The school has the highest chronic absenteeism rate in the district. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
A North Salem High School math teacher helps a student with an assignment. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
Sara LeRoy is starting her second year as principal of North Salem High School after coming from McKay. She’s hoping to drive down absenteeism. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
North Salem High School Principal Sara LeRoy shows where new construction is planned on the historic building as part of a district-wide bond approved by voters in 2018. (Special to Salem Reporter/Moriah Ratner)
