WASHINGTON, D.C. (WPRI) — Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee and Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green visited Washington, D.C. Wednesday to talk about chronic absenteeism in schools.

The event highlighted the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to increase student attendance to help students come to school every day.

Fewer absences and more kids learning in the classroom will be the main message McKee shares with leaders at the Every Day Counts Summit.

As of last month, Rhode Island schools reported more than 250,000 fewer absences this school year.

Since the launch of the Attendance Matters campaign, the percentage of chronic absenteeism has also gone down.

Infante-Green said chronic absenteeism numbers decreasing in the state, more work must be done to address the issue.

“Most of our kids that are chronically absent don’t just miss 18 days. They’re missing 20, 30, 40,” she explained. “When we talk about 18 days in a school system that’s a month. It is very difficult for kids that miss that much time to catch up, so those kids end up dropping out in our system.”

State Rep. Joseph McNamara recently introduced legislation that would tackle chronic absenteeism in the state.

It is currently being held for further study.

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