Thursday, February 25th, 2021, Volume 15 Issue 79
Remembering Ms. Patu
Hazel Patu was the administrative secretary at Thurgood Marshall Elementary for 20 years. She was a joyful, kind presence in our office and many remember her as the first person they ever met when they came to our school – both students and staff. Hazel touched the lives of many, as evidenced from the memories submitted by our community. We will continue to add the memories you submit and we will share them with Hazel’s family and children, Lydia and Lyndon.
In school every day, all day. Ready to learn! Attendance is an essential component of academic success even during remote learning. Many of our students are attending everyday and demonstrating academic growth. Unfortunately, there are some students who are truly struggling to attend regularly and this does translate into academic loss. We know remote learning is a challenge and that you have many things on your plate. This pandemic has been long and hard! Many face hardships like never before. We do not want to create more challenges or punitive responses if your student is struggling with attendance. We want to help and support your child in being In school all day, every day. Ready to Learn.
Did you know chronic absenteeism is missing just 10% of school per year? A student who misses more than one day a month is chronically absent. National data shows chronic absences for any reason, excused or unexcused may result in third graders not mastering reading, sixth graders failing subjects, and 9th graders dropping out of school. Chronic absences in kindergarten result in lower levels of literacy in first grade and lower achievement as far out as fifth grade. Research has shown that just one year of chronic absences – any year between first and eighth grade – is associated with 3 times higher rate of drop out and 50% of students with 2 or more years of chronic absences drop out of school. (from www.attendanceworks.com) Current Thurgood Marshall data demonstrates that our own students who miss just one day per week (virtually) are demonstrating larger performance gaps in both reading and math than students who attend every day. If you need support, please reach out to your student’s teacher, to Danny Hawkins, our Family Support Worker (dahawkins@seattleschools.org) to Ms. Matsui, school counselor (mtmatsui@seattleschools.org), or to me (selorow@seattle.schools.org). We want to partner with you in a proactive and solution focused manner to come up with the just right solution for your student and family. There is no one size fits all some might need help with technology or connection to childcare or social supports, etc. The list of possible supports is long! We are here to partner with you for the success of your child!
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