Pictured (left to right): Sara Williams (Retail Regional Manager, Fifth Third Bank,) Ron Foor (Community President for Fifth Third Bank,) and Pam Kingery (Executive Director, Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo)
Fifth Third Bank is partnering with Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo (CIS) to support students’ school attendance with a donation of 500 alarm clocks. This comes just in time for September’s Attendance Awareness Month, a nationwide effort to raise awareness about the importance of regular school attendance and reducing chronic absenteeism in the new school year.
“Alarm clocks are an important resource for our students,” says Pam Kingery, CIS Executive Director. “We are grateful for Fifth Third Bank’s donation, which will help students attend school on time, every day, ready to learn.”
“Every minute counts,” notes Kingery. “Tardies, early departures, excused and unexcused absences all lead to missed classroom instruction, putting students at risk of falling behind. Missing time in school can affect core knowledge, grades, and even graduation rates.”
Fifth Third Bank and CIS agree that good school attendance is essential to academic success. But far too many students are at risk academically because they are chronically absent, missing 10 or more days for any reason, excused or unexcused. Research shows that’s the point at which absenteeism begins to risk serious consequences.
According to Attendance Works, a national nonprofit dedicated to improving school attendance, starting as early as kindergarten or even preschool, chronic absence predicts lower third grade reading scores. By middle school it’s a warning sign that students will fail key classes and drop out of high school. Absence from school is not just a matter of truancy. Many children, especially in the early grades, miss too much school because of chronic health problems, unreliable transportation or housing moves—barriers that the community can help families address.
“School attendance matters to all of us, not just those with school-age children,” says Ron Foor, Community President for Fifth Third Bank. “When our schools graduate more students on time, our communities and our economy are stronger. We have more people who are prepared for the workplace and more engaged in our community’s civic life. Students who attend school regularly are more likely to be employees who attend work regularly. And we know that every second counts in a lot of different ways. Whether it is school attendance or saving for the future, every second really does matter.”
Tags: alarm clocks, attendance, Attendance Awareness Month, business supporting students and schools, CIS, Communities In Schools of Kalamazoo, Fifth Third Bank, impact of attendance on reading scores, Pam Kingery, Ron Foor, Sara Williams
