Excellence In Education Lincoln Daily News January 2025 Page 5 falling behind academically and often struggle with social skills like making and keeping friends, conflict resolution, confidence, and responsibility. Over the years, Chester-East Lincoln has tried to increase student attendance by educating parents and students on the importance of attending school. This all changed in 2020 with COVID and all of the restrictions that came with the pandemic. Students were required to quarantine for long periods of time which made it impossible to monitor and/or improve or encourage attendance. Since the pandemic, attendance has not improved and the number of chronically absent students has increased, so administration and staff felt like it was time to try something new and develop a more concrete plan to encourage students and families to attend school regularly. Through research and attending various workshops, the administrators decided to implement a mentoring program to support students with poor attendance. All staff were invited to participate in the mentor program, but participation was voluntary. The response was no surprise to the administration, and more than enough teachers signed up to mentor students. Together, the administrators met with staff to present the program and the list of students who would benefit from mentorship. Although some pairings were thought of ahead of time, most were made by staff taking the lead and requesting students they had connections with or felt led to mentor. The mentors and students meet once a month to set goals, discuss incentives, and address attendance barriers. Simple strategies have been implemented to address barriers. For example, some students have added the school phone number to their phones in case they miss the bus (and parents are already at work), while others have set up recurring alarms on their phones to wake them up. This allows the older students to take responsibility and learn lifelong skills that will promote future success. Between the monthly meetings, mentors encourage students by leaving them notes or checking in to let students know they care about them, miss them when they are gone, and are continuing to cheer them on! Since the start of the mentoring program, student attendance has increased for a number of the students participating in the program, and students are proud of themselves! They Continued --
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