The Waynesboro School Board regular meeting Tuesday included a variety of important topics of discussion, including Attendance Awareness Month, enrollment, Walk-to-School Week and changing the time of monthly meetings.
“Our enrollment report is a little surprising, I think,” said Superintendent Dr. Jeff Cassell.
On September 4, the school system’s enrollment compared to the same day in 2024 has decreased. Some schools have increased enrollment in 2025, while others have lost students. The significant factor is that William Perry Elementary School has 33 less students in fall 2025 which the school system had anticipated based on residential building in the area of the school.
“The [other schools’ enrollments] kind of balance out,” Cassell said.
September is Attendance Awareness Month and is observed across the country. Waynesboro School Board Assistant Superintendent Dr. Ryan Barber said that if a student misses 10 percent or more school days in a school year, then the student is considered chronically absent from school.
The school system’s message to parents is that a student who misses two days or more per month, whether for an illness, family trip or suspension, the days add up over the school year.
“While we have made significant growth in this area over the years, we still have some schools that really need to continue working on this and we’re putting supports in place to help them with this,” Barber said. “We also need families to know that attendance matters.”
The school system has three social workers and four attendance liaisons to assist families and determine barriers to attending school for students who are chronically absent.
“They’re just another layer of support for the social workers,” Barber said of the liaisons.
After-school programs are also available to students with multiple absences when they can make-up as many as 15 days of absences.
The school system’s Truancy Board provides support and resources as a multidisciplinary board that has deeper conversations with students who struggle with attendance.
“That’s a step before we go to the courthouse,” Barber said.
According to data, five Waynesboro schools were at level one of chronic absenteeism, which is not more than 15 percent of chronically-absent students. Now only two schools are at level one.
Last year, only one school was at level two, which is not more than 25 percent of absences,, but four schools are at level two today.
“It’s not where we really want to be but it’s not super concerning,” Barber said.
Waynesboro School Board Chair Amber Lipscomb asked about when the current data was gathered, and Barber said the data is from the 2024-2025 school year and is collected in May each year.
“Our message would be in summary is that good things are happening in our schools,” Barber said. “We are willing to partner with families to enable school attendance if there are barriers in the way.”
As part of Attendance Awareness Month, Barber said he was meeting with school system principals about chronic absenteeism the day after the school board.
“Parents need to know how important [school attendance is],” Barber said.
Stewart asked if administration knows why students are chronically absent and Barber said the reasons varied, including for chronic illnesses.
“And there’s no pass for a legit illness,” Barber said. “You’re still counted in our chronic absenteeism numbers.”
Waynesboro Schools, the Waynesboro Police Department, the City of Waynesboro, Office on Youth, the Waynesboro YMCA and Waynesboro Parks & Recreation will celebrate Walk-to-School Week October 6 to 10, 2025.
ICYMI: William Perry Elementary in the news
Barber acknowledged the local police department and staff at William Perry Elementary School who encountered a situation with a student’s backpack that contained a gun on September 3.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t thank publicly our team at William Perry and Waynesboro Police Department. We handled an emergency situation last week that could have been a whole lot different based on the circumstances but we followed a procedure and a practice and I’m just really proud of the team that handled that,” Barber said.
As with any similar situation, Barber said that he and staff will debrief and consider how better to handle next time if necessary.
After a discussion initiated by Lipscomb about changing the start time of monthly board meetings to 6 p.m., the board approved the new meeting time.
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Rebecca Barnabi
