PANAMA CITY BEACH — Vacationing students aren’t the only ones enjoying Spring Break.
Here in Bay County, some local high school students also are heading to the Beach to enjoy the concerts and the sun. And they’re not waiting until after school or until the official March 23-27 holidays.
A. Crawford Mosley High School Principal Sandy Harrison said on March 6, a Friday, 124 students were absent. The school has 680 students in total. On March 10, 57 students were absent. She said overall there had been some a drop in student attendance lately.
“In my opinion, concerts do distract from school work,” Harrison said.
Students were sometimes open about the reason for missing school being Spring Break festivities, Harrison said, and added some parents know about this type of absence while other parents aren’t aware.
Bay High School Attendance Administrator Blythe Carpenter said typically Bay High sees a drop in student attendance around Spring Break.
“Typically kids will ditch,” Carpenter said.
Concerts on the beach can be a big factor in kids skipping school, Carpenter said. In comparing attendance figures from the beginning of February to the beginning of March, Carpenter said, Bay High had around 27 less students on average since Spring Break.
Deane Bozeman School, which teaches kindergarten through 12th grade, also said there was a recent drop in daily attendance, although specific attendance figures weren’t immediately available.
Rutherford High School though, according to Assistant Principal Doug Lee, was an anomaly with the attendance trend. Lee said while student attendance during Spring Break may depend on an event going on that day, Rutherford High has not had a day when a dramatic higher number of students were missing.
“Our attendance has not really dropped off,“ Lee said.
Right on the Beach is a different story. J.R. Arnold High School Assistant Principal Gordy Pongratz said the school is seeing higher absenteeism. Pongratz said he expects attendance to return to normal when school starts back on March 30.
“This week and next week we’re running a little off,” Pongratz said.
Pongratz said the massive drop-off is an annual trend.
“They just take a Spring Break,“ Pongratz said.
