GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — For school districts across Michigan, Count Day might as well be the Super Bowl. The stakes are high because funding is on the line. But the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way Count Day works.
"There are multiple ways we can account for student attendance," said John Helmholdt, who serves as the Executive Director of Communications & External Affairs for Grand Rapids Public Schools.
"One of which is the actual student attendance count during synchronous learning in all of the classes. That's how we would do it normally. But if students log in and complete class work and submit it, that counts as attendance."
Students who miss class for technical reasons or other circumstances may also touch base with their teacher to count toward attendance.
"Based on the total number of students enrolled and participation rates during synchronous learning, we should be close to our projected enrollment of 15,330, but it is too premature to release a hard number at this time," said GRPS Superintendent Dr. Leadriane Roby in a release.
District leaders say GRPS has upwards of 90% participation rates right now, just through the synchronous learning portion of Count Day. They say one of the hiccups experienced was a temporary software failure.
The state is giving districts 30 days to finalize their count, and Grand Rapids Public Schools plan to use that time to make sure they get it right.
"We know while we had a good count day, we're going to have to take time to really unpack the numbers, look at the students who we do not have attendance for yet, and then go through the process of following the guidelines the state posed," Helmholdt said.
The state is also providing another safety net to schools districts where parents may have gone a different route this year because of the pandemic.
"They did a weighted formula where 75% will be based on last year's blended count and 25% will be based on this year's blended count. That is a safety measure so if we fall a little short of our projects for this current school year, having that new balance should give us a little cushion to absorb any potential enrollment decline due to COVID," Helmholdt said.
"We cannot thank the governor and the state legislature enough. There's an eyes-wide-open recognition that this year and this count from districts across the state, including our charter school friends, it's going to look different."
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.