Cullman County Schools Superintendent Dr. Shane Barnette poses with a group of students who won prizes at Thursday night's school board meeting for perfect attendance. (W.C. Mann for The Cullman Tribune)
CULLMAN – On Thursday evening, the Cullman County Board of Education (CCBOE) celebrated students and faculty who had perfect attendance through the month of September. The average daily attendance in the early weeks of the school year is one factor used to calculate state funding allocations, and studies have shown that students who have good attendance in the first month of the school year tend to continue that pattern through the end of the year. Statistics reveal that good attendance is crucial for students, especially in high school: a ninth grader who misses as few as five days in that school year is 24 percent less likely to graduate than a student with four or fewer absences.
Superintendent Dr. Shane Barnette told the audience, “I’m real excited about our attendance initiative that we did this (last) month. Way over half of our students had perfect attendance this month, which goes to say if we can do it for the month of September, we can do it for the rest of the year. So I want to encourage everybody to be there, and there’ll be more encouragement later.
“Same thing for our teachers; we included our classroom teachers on this, and many of them had perfect attendance for September. And I’ll be challenging them to be in there, because it’s hard to get our students to learn everything that they need to learn if they’re not here.”
Of all the students and teachers with perfect attendance,13 students (one from each grade, plus Kindergarten) and 10 teachers were chosen at random to receive prizes donated by approximately 50 local businesses and organizations. The prizes included kayaks, a Chromebook, Nintendo 2DS, Alabama football game tickets, Rock the South tickets, a bicycle, membership at the Cullman Wellness and Aquatic Center, jewelry and gift cards.
Students:
Francisco Ayala – 12th grade, Cold Springs High School
Meagan Brunner – 11th grade, Vinemont High School
Trinity Snyder – 10th grade, Vinemont High School
Manisha Adams – 9th grade, Hanceville High School
Ashton Rogers, 8th grade, West Point Middle School
Joseph Ehpel, 7th grade, Hanceville Middle School
Alexis Golden, 6th grade, Fairview Middle School
Jackson Miller, 5th grade, Holly Pond Elementary School
Madison Butts, 4th grade, Holly Pond Elementary School
Kayden Wilson, 3rd grade, Vinemont Elementary School
Haley Parker, 2nd grade, West point Elementary School
Aiden Benefield, 1st grade, Hanceville Elementary School
Kyleigh Lance, Kindergarten, Hanceville Elementary School
Teachers:
Monica Bates, Good Hope Elementary School
Rachel Finley, Holly Pond Elementary School
Tiffany Davis, Cold Springs Elementary School
Kyle Seymore, Good Hope Middle School
Marta Dollar, Harmony School
Pamela Evers, Parkside School
Alecia Crider, Good Hope Elementary School
Raymond Brauer – Cullman Area Technology Academy
Candace Baty, West Point High School
Tiffany Matthews, Fairview High School
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