Cleveland School Removing Barriers to Attendance
One Student Says “I Want to See What the World Has for Me”
Key Findings
Morisi Simibi, a sixth grader at Metro Catholic School in Cleveland, has perfect attendance. His goal? To work at NASA.
That aspiration requires showing up, every day. And at Metro Catholic, showing up is something the school works hard to make possible.
The school, which serves about 320 students from pre-K through 8th grade, recently decreased chronic absenteeism by 4% as part of the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network.
What makes the difference?
Principal Joe Gehring describes the approach simply: “What we try to do is we’ll talk with the families, work with them, and say, ‘Hey, what can we do to help?'”
That help looks different for each family. For some older students, it means bus passes. For younger students, it might mean support with morning routines. The common thread is partnership: The school meets families where they are.
Zachary Garnett, another Metro Catholic student with perfect attendance, captures why it matters: “I want to see what the world has for me.”
Part of a larger network
Metro Catholic participates in the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network, managed by Battelle Education, which supports more than 200 districts and 550,000 students across Ohio. The network’s goal is ambitious: 90% of Ohio students attending school 90% or more of the time by 2030.
But that goal is built one student at a time. One bus pass. One conversation with a family. One morning routine solved.
Morisi’s NASA dreams, Zachary’s curiosity about the world: These are the outcomes that attendance makes possible.
This story was originally reported by News 5 Cleveland.
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