During the 2024-25 school year, 33.5% of Oregon students were chronically absent, meaning they missed more than 10% of all school days.
In the Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District, a small district that covers a rural area southwest of Eugene, that number was 15.2%, giving it the 15th lowest rate of chronic absenteeism in the state.
Students in the district were not always such regular attenders.
In the 2021-22 school year, 44% of all Crow-Applegate-Lorane students were chronically absent, placing it in the bottom 50 districts statewide for regular attendance.
The district’s superintendent, who started in her role at the height of its attendance crisis, said a big part of what has caused improvement was lowering class sizes so staff and teachers could bond with their students.
“Those small class sizes really allow a teacher to know every student well, to know the family well, to be able to have a deep and caring relationship where we notice when they’re not here,” said Superintendent Heidi Brown.
Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District qualifies to give all of its roughly 350 students free breakfast and lunch, and Brown said most eat both meals at the school.
Staff take advantage of that extra morning time to further build those relationships.
“A typical elementary student is greeted by name probably four times before he or she even gets in the breakfast line,” Brown said.
Another item that may have helped continue gains in regular attendance is that CAL students began attending four days a week in the 2024-25 school year. The district eliminated a half day from its weekly schedule.
Brown said that allows students a day each week where their schedule more easily accommodates a trip of 30 minutes or more to larger cities such as Eugene for tasks such as doctor or dentist appointments.
