Springfield announces campaign to reduce school absences

SPRINGFIELD — Hoping to get more students to school every day, the school department yesterday unveiled a new program to combat absenteeism at all grades and in all schools.

The “Attend Today Achieve Tomorrow” campaign will be promoted on billboards and in public service announcements, and will be tied to school programs. It will offer incentives and a reward package that will grant lucky families of students with perfect attendance a one-night stay and $250 restaurant certificate from MGM Springfield.

“Attendance truly does matter,” Superintendent Sonia Dinnall said. “We will blanket the city with a message that every day counts, every day matters. There is no reason, no reason, that we cannot continually decrease our chronic absenteeism and increase our average daily attendance rates.”