Will a vending machine curb student absences? One Charlotte school will find out
A new vending machine sits in the main hallway of Quail Hollow Middle School.
But instead of dispensing snacks or drinks, it drops books.
Leaders of the south Charlotte school hope the book vending machine delivered last week will help curb chronic student absences, which can lead to increased dropout rates.
“The book vending machine is an exciting way to bring new attention to school attendance in a fun way,” Quail Hollow Middle Principal Rachael Neill said. “Plus this tool addresses multiple goals simultaneously – celebrating attendance by encouraging reading. The vending machine makes both earning the coins by attending school and selecting a book a special experience.”
Quail Hollow rolled out an attendance initiative to its 1,140 students last week allowing them to earn coins or tokens based on daily and weekly attendance, school social worker Brie Gabriel told The Charlotte Observer.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, its partner Communities In Schools of Charlotte-Meckleburg and others in the corporate community also started the Attendance+ program in dozens of other schools across the district to get students and families reengaged in the classroom after the pandemic.
Cotrane Penn, CMS executive director of student wellness and academic support says the initiative comes at a critical time — more than one in four students, or 29%, were chronically absent in the 2021-22 school year, which is more than twice as high as before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of the academic year, Penn says. For the 2022-23 year, with 175 instructional days, that would mean a student misses 17.5 days.
“Chronic absenteeism has real-life consequences for students, families and society — but the good news is, chronic absenteeism can be reduced when the community comes together to intervene and rally around our kids,” Men Tchaas Ari, the president and CEO of Communities in Schools of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, told the Observer.
How does the program work?
Attendance+ is a rewards-based program that incentivizes students, families and teachers to actively engage in learning, officials say. Community partners donate resources and incentives such as tickets to sporting events, museums and concerts, while Communities in Schools uses those incentives to motivate change and improve school attendance.
Bank of America and the Charlotte Hornets donated the vending machine to Quail Hollow as one incentive.
“Addressing absenteeism has to be the responsibility of the entire community,” Kieth Cockrell, president of Bank of America Charlotte said in a news release. “We and our partners are committed to providing the necessary resources.”
Promising Pages, a Charlotte-area book bank, will keep the Quail Hollow vending machine stocked with “carefully selected books for middle schoolers for fun reading experiences,” Gabriel said.
Students can use the tokens earned for good attendance to get books from the machine.
“A strong education will be vital for these students as they get older and move on to the next stages of their lives,” Fred Whitfield, Hornets president and vice chairman, said, “and it is important that we do our part to help ensure that they are in school to receive that education.”
Absenteeism linked to dropout rates
Ari says the attendance initiative grew out of a meeting several months ago between him, CMS leadership and school principals, who say student chronic absenteeism is one of the biggest concerns.
“The increase in absenteeism during and post-pandemic has created an even greater sense of urgency to support the district and help find solutions,” said Ari, whose nonprofit operates in 56 CMS schools, 45 of which are classified as low income.
High absenteeism correlates with increased dropout rates, school officials say. A total of 1,427 students dropped out of district schools in the 2021-22 year, including three at Quail Hollow Middle, according to state data released Wednesday. In North Carolina, the number of dropouts was 17% higher in the 2021-2022 year than before the pandemic in the 2018-19 school year.
“The significant increase in absenteeism in our schools, if left unaddressed, will most likely lead to thousands more students dropping out of school,” Ari said. “Fewer high school graduates directly impacts employers and the future workforce pool, as students will not have the credentials needed to compete in the 21st century workforce and contribute to our local economy.”
Students who are chronically absent do not gain the “soft skills” employers expect them to possess and often lack the foundation needed to develop positive work habits as adults, he says.
This story was originally published March 6, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
