WILLIAMSBURG — Nearly 21% of students at Williamsburg’s elementary school were chronically absent in 2023-2024, meaning they missed at least 10% of school days. Last school year, that figure fell to just over 5%.
Chronic absenteeism has plagued schools nationally and in Massachusetts since the pandemic. So the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education traveled to the Anne T. Dunphy School last week to hear how Williamsburg turned it around.
Principal Stacey Jenkins told the state’s top education officials that her school’s success isn’t the result of any program or incentive. Instead, she said, it comes from a community that sticks together.
“Everyone, from the administrative assistant to the PE teacher, to the custodian to the cafeteria helpers. I truly believe that students at ATD [Anne T. Dunphy] feel held by everyone, and that rubs off,” she said. “Families feel that their children are held, and they’re more willing to send their kids when things are hard. They trust us to partner with them.”
Anne T. Dunphy serves 111 students from kindergarten through sixth grade. The school’s 5.4% absenteeism rate last school year is far lower than the statewide rate of more than 17%.
Jenkins admitted it might be easier to accomplish in a small community like Williamsburg, but she stressed that culture matters.
“I know we have the privilege of having a small community school where it might seem easier to accomplish this, but this type of culture isn’t something that you can take for granted, even in a small community,” she said. “It’s part of our culture. We cultivate it intentionally every day when we greet kids, when we pass them in the hall, and when we send them off at the end of the day. It’s not flashy.”
Highlighting how state funding for rural schools makes education possible, Jenkins also promoted Williamsburg to the state officials.
Funding, she said, “certainly has been a huge benefit in keeping our programs stable here.”
