Students across Massachusetts missed an average of 11.9 days of school last year, though pupils in Franklin County were present slightly more frequently.
During the 2021-2022 school year, the height of the pandemic with virtual instruction, students across Massachusetts missed 14.8 days of instruction on average, according to state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education data. Prior to the pandemic in the 2018-2019 school year, students missed 9.6 days of school on average.
In Franklin County, students missed 11.5 days of class, making for an average attendance rate of 93.3%, just over the state average of 93.2%.
Greenfield
Absenteeism in Greenfield has remained a topic of conversation among educational leaders and is a subject that is brought up frequently at School Committee meetings. The district has prioritized fighting chronic absenteeism, defined as being absent for at least 10% of the school year.
According to the department’s 2024 District Report Card, which was published earlier this year, more than 45% of the student body was chronically absent in 2022, a percentage that was nearly halved in 2023, when 21.8% of students were reported chronically absent.
State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education data on the district’s absenteeism rates for the 2024-2025 school year shows that Greenfield students recorded a 92% attendance rate, with students missing an average of 13.3 days.
For the 2024-2025 school year, 27.8% of students were absent for 10% of the year or longer — slightly more than the state’s 19.7% chronic absenteeism rate that same year.
Pioneer
Across Pioneer Valley Regional School District schools, student attendance rates are well above the state average at 94.6%, with students missing an average of 9.3 days during the 2024-2025 school year.
“We’re feeling really proud of that, and thank our families for sending their students in,” Superintendent Patricia Kinsella said.
Kinsella said a survey of students has indicated that they enjoy coming to school because they have good relationships with their teachers.
“It is the relationship students have with educators and other staff,” Kinsella said. “Our kids are saying they like their teachers and they feel safe at school.”
She added that while she is proud of their attendance rates, there is always room to improve, as rates are still below pre-pandemic levels. In the 2018-2019 school year, Pioneer saw an attendance rate of 95.9%.
To encourage attendance, the district has begun monthly reviews of attendance with school administrators to see which students are missing the most days, and if there is anything that can be done to support getting students to school. She added that other policy changes were made, noting that family vacations were not excused absences and chronic absenteeism would have an impact on student grade point averages.
“We have put some teeth into our policies to make it clear we want our students here,” Kinsella said.
Mohawk Trail, Hawlemont and Rowe
Students across the Mohawk Trail Regional School District missed an average of 12.1 days last school year and had an attendance rate of 93.2%, on par with the state average.
Meanwhile, at Hawlemont Regional School, students only missed 9.9 days, two days less than the state average. The school had an attendance rate of 94.1%.
Over the past five years, both districts have been about on par with the state average for attendance, seeing dips during the pandemic. Hawlemont Regional School has now surpassed its pre-pandemic attendance rates, while at Mohawk Trail, students are just one percentage point behind where they were in 2019.
Superintendent Sheryl Stanton said the districts do their best to listen to students and create an environment where they want to come to school.
“We have focused on engaging student voices in our classrooms and school. Student-led conferences, capstone and our MTRS Student Summit are good examples of this,” she wrote in an email.
Farther west in Rowe, students had an attendance rate of 91.5%, having missed an average of 14.7 days in the 2024-2025 school year. Rowe students missed more school than the state average by approximately 2%.
Principal Jon Friedman said the school is working to improve its attendance rates and recover from the pandemic era, when parents were told to keep their children home, even if they had “just the sniffles.”
He said it is important to balance keeping sick students home with coming to class, and the school works to communicate with parents when students are missing numerous days. He added that having a strong school culture where students like their teachers and have fun while learning helps contribute to students wanting to come to school.
“Culture is what draws students in and keeps them here,” Friedman said. “I’m incredibly appreciative to everyone who shows up every day.”
Frontier
Frontier Regional School District’s attendance rate last school year landed right at the state average of 93.2%, with students missing an average of 12.1 days over the school year.
The rates mark a slight increase from the past three years, with an attendance rate of 92.6% in the 2023-2024 and 2022-2023 school years and 92.1% in the year before. These rates have been unable to climb back up to the 2020-2021 numbers, when attendance rates reached a high of 95.2%.
Franklin Tech
For the 2024-2025 school year, Franklin County Technical School had a 94% attendance rate, with an average absence of 10.5 days a year.
Since the pandemic, the school has maintained a better attendance rate than the state average, and Superintendent Richard Martin said none of the latest data stood out to him as a “red flag.”
“It doesn’t surprise me that it was in the mid-90s, and I think that will fluctuate every year,” Martin said about the attendance rate.
Gill-Montague
At the Gill-Montague Regional School District, progress has been made toward improving attendance.
For the 2024-2025 school year, attendance was 92.6%, with an average of 12.7 days missed. This is a marginal increase from the 2023-2024 school year, and growth has been occurring since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Loren Messina, head principal for Great Falls Middle School and Turners Falls High School, said she’s noticed more kids in the classroom this school year (2025-2026), citing improvements in school culture. Additionally, outreach on attendance has been ongoing in the community.
When asked about the messaging for attendance and if it’s been helpful for students, Messina said she believes school culture is valuable for students to remain in school.
“I think what’s most helpful for students is a sense of community, belonging and engagement in what they’re doing,” she said.
The district already has attendance enforcement policies for students, which according to the 2025-2026 Student Handbook, include calls to parents or guardians and in-person meetings to check on students.
To enhance this outreach, Messina noted that the district is assembling a team to conduct in-person visits to families or guardians of students when needed, offering support where possible.
Mahar
Elizabeth Zielinski, superintendent of the Ralph C. Mahar Regional and Union 73 school districts, said she has seen some interesting trends in student absenteeism. She said chronic absenteeism at Orange Elementary School and Petersham Center School sits at 17.6%, which is down from the year before.
“When children aren’t in school, we can’t educate them,” Zielinski said.
She also mentioned that her districts’ numbers are better than the statewide average for chronic absenteeism, which was 19% in the 2023-2024 school year.
The average number of absences for Mahar during the 2024-2025 school year fell at 12.4 days, with an attendance rate of 92.7%.
