VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Volusia County Schools is launching a bicycle program in an effort to cut down on student absences.
With the help of AdventHealth, 168 bicycles and helmets were purchased for the pilot program, the district said in a release on Thursday.
The district said this program will help get results on top of its “All Day, Every Day” initiative, which has already reduced absenteeism by 5% in the first semester of the 2024-25 school year.
The initiative does the following:
- Communicate with families via automated attendance warning letters
- Real-time attendance tracking, notifications
- Early intervention, support systems
- Strengthened school-family partnerships
- Monthly progress reports to identify trends
The district said it hopes with the bike pilot program that absenteeism can be reduced by 10% by the end of the school year.
On Friday, Lili’eona Taylor came to school on a bus, and now she, along with dozens of Volusia County School District students, will go home with a new bike.
“I don’t how y’all choose me for this bike. I’m very thankful for what I have. It doesn’t matter if it was a small bike or a big bike. It doesn’t really matter, I’m thankful for what I got,” she said.
Dr. Carmen Balgobin, Volusia County Schools Superintendent, noted, “This is not the ultimate answer or the sole answer, but this is one of the barriers they’re trying to cross.”
She mentioned that absenteeism has already decreased by 5% since last year. The district currently has 14,000 students classified as chronically absent, meaning they miss more than two days a month for excused or unexcused absences.
“In speaking to the families and the children, yes, they’re walking to school, but from the time they’re leaving, they’re not getting to school on time. The families were like, you know, the bike would make a difference but we just don’t have the financial resources to be able to provide them,” Dr. Balgobin explained.
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