Lake County Gazette

A recent attendance challenge among elementary schools in the Collinsville Community Unit School District 10 (CUSD 10) concluded with Summit Elementary narrowly winning the top spot. The friendly competition, which ran from October 14 to 19, was designed by district principals to highlight the importance of regular school attendance and address chronic absenteeism.

Summit Elementary recorded a 96.38% attendance rate during the challenge period, just ahead of Twin Echo Elementary at 96.30%. Principal Stephanie Pulse received the Attendance Championship chain on behalf of her school. Staff and students at Summit will participate in a schoolwide celebration as recognition for their achievement.

The district’s elementary principals launched the challenge as a way to emphasize daily attendance. Research shows that consistent school attendance is linked to academic success, timely graduation, and increased opportunities for higher education.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of the school year—approximately 18 days—regardless of whether absences are excused or unexcused. This equates to roughly two days per month, which can have significant consequences over time. Additional information on this topic can be found on the Chronic Absenteeism page at Kahoks.org.

The full results for K-4 schools during the October 14-29 period were:

- Summit: 96.38%

- Twin Echo: 96.30%

- Caseyville: 95.14%

- Renfro: 94.97%

- Maryville: 94.94%

- Kreitner: 93.84%

- Webster: 93.14%

Although not part of an official challenge, secondary schools also tracked attendance benchmarks during this period. Collinsville Middle School Principal Brad Snow accepted an Attendance Champion medallion after his school posted a rate of 92.78%. Dorris Intermediate School followed closely with a rate of 92.56%, while Collinsville High School recorded a rate of 90.25%.

District officials plan to conduct another attendance challenge across all schools in November.

The Attendance Champion chains awarded to winners were created by Gavin Wilson, a sixth grader at Dorris Intermediate School participating in the Young CEO program.

Superintendent Dr. Mark B. Skertich commented on Wilson’s contribution: "The Kahok chains are amazing. We appreciate Gavin's creativity to come with them as well as his coding skills to fabricate them. The opportunity to recognize student attendance in our elementary schools, as well as our upper grades is always a fun experience and for a worthy cause...utilizing a student-created award makes it more meaningful!"

CUSD 10 encompasses schools throughout Madison and St. Clair counties, including Summit Elementary and other local institutions such as Caseyville Elementary, Collinsville High School, Collinsville Middle School, Dorris Intermediate School, Jefferson Elementary School, John A. Renfro Elementary School, Kreitner Elementary School, Maryville Elementary School, Twin Echo Elementary School, and Webster Elementary School (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).

According to data from the Illinois State Board of Education, CUSD 10 employs about 418 teachers who earn an average salary of $60,392 before pension contributions; approximately four out of five teachers are women (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/). No teacher in the district had more than ten absences during a recent school year.

Demographically, CUSD 10's student body is composed of approximately 56 percent White students, with Black students making up about fourteen percent and Hispanic students around twenty-four percent (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).

In terms of spending, CUSD 10 allocated $16,872 per student in fiscal year 2020 for total expenditures exceeding $104 million (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/).