Dear Families,

Here in Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS), we want our students to feel capable of success, to feel connected to their peers and teachers, to feel like they are part of their larger school community, and to feel supported when they face challenges and struggles. We also want our students to understand that school connects them to the future they dream for themselves.

We are reaching out to you because we need your help to set your student up for success. As our community, state and nation continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the lingering impacts is increased rates of student absenteeism. And, research shows that missing instruction is linked to many negative outcomes, including increased risk of failure and dropout, falling behind in critical reading and math skills, lost opportunities for social development, higher rates of stress and anxiety, increased likelihood of substance use, and more.

ACPS has launched a campaign to improve attendance across every student demographic group in our division. Our approach will involve a variety of strategies, and partnering with families will be key. The theme of our campaign, “Every Day Matters, Every Moment Counts,” is based on the idea that students who attend school when they are not sick are building a firm foundation for success in the future.

The first step of our campaign is to help families make informed decisions about attendance. We’ve developed a simple checklist to help you determine when to send your child to school and when to keep your child at home:

Click below to view this checklist in the language of your choice:

Spanish • Arabic • Chinese • Dari • Pashto

If ever you’re unsure about whether your child is well enough to attend school, we encourage you to call your child’s school nurse for guidance. Also, we encourage you to visit our Mitigation Strategies web page to access our current COVID-19 safety practices, including updated procedures for when a student becomes ill at school, tests positive for COVID-19, or is exposed to COVID-19.

We care about the well-being of every student, and we look forward to engaging with you throughout the school year in support of improving student attendance! Remember…

Every Day Matters, Every Moment Counts