OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Dunkirk City School District Brian Swatland sits at his desk during a recent conversation with the OBSERVER.

Improved absenteeism rates and promising test scores were the focus of Dunkirk City School District Superintendent Brian Swatland during a recent interview.

Swatland wanted to highlight an 18% drop in chronic absenteeism over the past two school years. A chronic absentee is defined as a student who misses 18 or more days of school. One in five Dunkirk students, 20%, is still a chronic absentee — but that’s down from 38%.

“When students aren’t in school, they can’t learn,” Swatland said. “It was a focus to reduce absenteeism.”

The Dunkirk school district started using an app called “Edia” which tracks attendance. The district can share messages with students and their parents through the app. Swatland credits the app with helping to lower absenteeism, and he encourages parents to communicate with district staff through it.

The superintendent said dedicated attendance committees for each school building also cut down on class-cutters.

“We were paying more attention to (absenteeism) and made it a priority,” he said. “It’s also leading to an increase in student achievement data.”

One example of that: Math and reading proficiency rates are showing increases across most grade levels. Swatland also credits classroom teachers and instructional leadership by administrators for those improvements.

“It starts with the teachers in the classrooms, and having the kids in the seats,” he said.

Swatland said the district sent a general mid-year growth report for district students, with testing data for each grade, to all parents. He presented a similar report at the February Dunkirk Board of Education meeting.

Personal growth reports for students were sent to homes Feb. 13, the superintendent said. Similar reports will be sent at the end of the school year.

“I want to make sure we praise the teachers,” Swatland concluded. “Our kids are growing and getting better… We’re tweaking things that aren’t working and highlighting things that are working.”