PBS Reno Partners with Strengthen our Community
to Combat Chronic Absenteeism in Schools
RENO, NV (OCT 9, 2024) — PBS Reno is partnering with Strengthen our Community (SoC), a newly-established nonprofit in northern Nevada committed to tackling and reducing chronic absenteeism in Washoe County schools to pre-pandemic levels by 2027.
To achieve this goal, Strengthen our Community is working hand-in-hand with Washoe County School District and deeply engaged, education-focused nonprofits including PBS Reno.
“Strengthen our Community is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) committed to developing cooperative, caring solutions to regional needs, with a special emphasis on education, families, good governance, and environmental sustainability,” said Mike Kazmierski, Founder and Executive Director of Strengthen our Community. “Since most of our efforts are community-wide, having PBS Reno as a partner is critical to our efforts to inform the community and garner support to address these issues. For example, PBS Reno is leading the chronic absenteeism awareness campaign, which is helping to educate parents and community leaders.”
Strengthen our Community and Washoe County School District recently presented seven major areas of focus to reduce chronic absenteeism:
- Dedicate at least one site coordinator or prevention specialist at every school
- Expand family resource centers and provide access to basic needs for families
- Develop innovative approaches to transportation
- Expand before and after school childcare
- Engage families through positive relationships and mutual trust. Build family capacity with attendance. Build awareness of the availability of community resources to support families
- Launch a community awareness campaign on rising absenteeism and the long-term impacts on the community
- Ensure that every student has a teacher
Chronic absenteeism — missing 10% or more of school days due to absence for any reason (18 days per school year)— can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school. According to Attendance Works, at least 14.7 million students nationwide were chronically absent in the 2020-21 school year. This means that chronic absence has almost doubled from the more than 8 million students pre-Covid-19 who were missing so many days of school that they were academically at risk.
In addition to its chronic absenteeism awareness campaign, Strengthen our Community is focused two additional objectives. The first is to ensure 100% of eligible children in Washoe County School District are enrolled in a quality preschool program by 2030. The second objective is to create a 50% increase in childcare slots by 2027 so children are in a safe, nurturing environment so parents and caregivers engage in their careers.
“As part of our commitment to education, PBS Reno realizes the importance of supporting this campaign,” said Kurt Mische, PBS Reno President & CEO. “Good attendance is essential for success in school and it is vitally important that as a state, we address and solve this challenge.”
About PBS Reno
As of February 2024, PBS Reno is enjoyed by more than 288,000 monthly viewers in northern and central Nevada and northeastern California across several platforms including three broadcast channels (PBS Reno 5.1, Reno Create 5.2, and PBS KIDS on PBS Reno 5.3), a YouTube channel, YouTube TV, online, livestreams, and digital platforms. PBS Reno provides PBS national programming and award-earning, locally-produced content, with many local segments posted weekly to PBS Reno’s YouTube Channel. PBSReno.org provides engaging interactive content, including the video portal at watch.PBSReno.org that streams all locally-produced content and most PBS national content. PBS Reno serves students, teachers, parents and caregivers through immersive educational services including Curiosity Classroom Workshops that bring classroom lessons to life with standards-based lessons and activities. Through the support of local corporations and foundations, as well as thousands of individual members, PBS Reno has been delivering public television and educational services to the communities it serves since September 29, 1983.
About Strengthen our Community
Strengthen our Community is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to improving outcomes for children, families and communities in northern Nevada. SOC raises awareness of key barriers to opportunity, identifying solutions and bringing partners together to collaboratively implement those solutions through increased investment, policy change and the creation of or expansion of successful programs. Strengthen our Community was founded in 2024 by Mike Kazmierski. With deep regional experience as the former head of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN), Mike understands the unique opportunities and challenges facing families and communities in northern Nevada. Strengthen our Community seeks to address pressing community challenges through partnerships and collaboration. Learn more here.
About Attendance Works
As a non-profit initiative, Attendance Works collaborates with schools, districts, states, communities and organizations to ensure that everyone recognizes that chronic absence is a serious issue that can be addressed using a positive, problem-solving approach grounded in an understanding of educational inequities. Learn more here.
Contact us:
Membership Questions: membership@pbsreno.org
Programming Hotline: programming@pbsreno.org
Phone: 775.600.0555
Address: 1670 N. Virginia St. • Reno NV 89503