Chronic absenteeism is an issue in schools all across the country. Here in Washoe County, attendance is up 71% due to efforts from the Education Alliance.

Since the pandemic, chronic absenteeism has become a growing issue with students nationwide.

In Washoe County, the Education Alliance is doing what it can to combat the issue by fundraising for research and supporting families to help kids make it to school. 

Their efforts are seeing results already this school year, as they have seen a 71% increase in attendance compared to years prior.

Board President Landon Miller tells us what they're doing to keep this upward trend in attendance. 

"We've done a lot of different things over the last couple of years," he said. We've done fundraisers, our executive director will go out and make individual ads to businesses and corporations to see how they can donate."

Miller says they have raised over $150,000 for this cause.

Washoe County has used these funds to support families who are struggling with getting students to school.

They have also invested in research to assess the issue of absenteeism. The Board discussed a specific age group of students who suffer from absenteeism the most. 

"Middle school engagement and absenteeism is a problem," said Miller. "We've been able to hire intervention specialists who work one-on-one with students to say, 'Hey, why aren't you coming to class? Get in here.' And research shows that face-to-face interaction improves kids' abilities and desires to come to school." 

The Alliance says they encourage the community to get involved, whether that's donating to the cause or just by being a positive influence to get kids wanting to go to school. The kids being helped today are the leaders of tomorrow. 

"Who do you want your neighbor to be 10-15 years from now?" asked Miller. "Who do you want your pharmacist to be 1015 years from now? Who do you want your lawyer to be 10 to 15 years from now? The people who are in school today are going to be the people interacting with us 10, 15 years from now. We want to teach them the importance of showing up, showing up on time, good work ethic, and overall being educated."