South Cook News

Attendance numbers over the past year for Riverside Brookfield High School (RBHS) was recently revealed.

Attendance and tardiness increased simultaneously, according to statements made by school officials during a District 208 Board of Education meeting June 14.

Daily attendance at RBHS was 93.1% during the second semester of the 2021-22 school year, Assistant Principal for Student Affairs of RBHS, David Mannon, said. This was down slightly from 95.1% for the previous year. Attendance for every month of the semester was above 93%, and the yearly attendance rate for 2021-22 was 93.3%.

"And that's where I think our deans did a nice job, a really - team effort,” Mannon said. "And I go back to the classroom efforts that our teachers did. And it's not it's not perfect, it wasn't perfect, but there's a lot to grow from. We're never going to come across a re-acclimatization through the pandemic and trying to re-engage students again - hopefully not."

Students who were marked tardy each day was considerably higher in the 2021-22 school year compared to previous school years, Mannon said. The second semester average for students reporting late to class was 14.6 per period, per day, compared to last year’s average of 9.7.

Most students who were marked late were late for the first period of the day, Mannon said. That “can be attributed to the ongoing construction and traffic around the school.”

The district doled out 33 suspensions in the second semester of the school year involving 30 students. The biggest cause for suspensions was fighting, followed by smoking or drugs, disruptive behavior or bullying, and other offenses, Mannon said.

The board is planning to implement different ways to prevent behavior issues in the future.