NK Schools on Low End in Absenteeism

North Kingstown schools fell on the lower end of the scale in what the state Department of Education terms "chronic absenteeism," meaning students who miss more than 18 days of the school year.

WPRI Channel 12 recently reported that 17 percent of all students in Rhode Island were classified as chronically absent during the 2011-12 school year, with four Providence high schools reporting more than 50 percent of students on the list.

Locally, North Kingstown High School recorded 15.60 percent chronic absenteeism, followed by Suzanne M. Henseler Quidnessett Elementary School with 13.12 percent, Davisville Middle School wth 8.36 percent, and Wickford Middle School with 5.06 percent.

The other elementary schools all had fewer than 5 percent of their students in the chronically absent category — Hamilton Elementary School [4.81], Fishing Cove Elementary School [4.33], Forest Park Elementary School [4.14], and Stony Lane Elementary School [0.91].

See the complete results here.

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Why do you think North Kingstown has relatively good results in getting kids to attend school? How do you think school attendance can be improved?

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