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Many students miss school due to boycott

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More than 1,100 Hispanic students in Beaufort County stayed home from school Monday, the result of a nationwide boycott by immigrants and their supporters. Locally, school officials were disappointed by parents' decision to take children out of school, seeing it as little more than a missed day of learning.

"We always feel that it's important for students to be in school," said Adrienne Sutton, principal at Hilton Head Early Childhood Center. "At this age level, it's the parent's choice, not the child's. I see it more as an adult-related event, so I feel the place for the children would be in school."

Based on preliminary counts, about 41 percent of the Beaufort County School District's Hispanic children were absent Monday, according to a district news release. The biggest impact was south of the Broad River, where 1,057 of the 2,292 Hispanic students at Hilton Head Island and greater Bluffton schools were absent.

Last week, Bluffton Elementary School Principal Kathy Corley had sent out a letter to parents, written in English and Spanish, reminding them of the definition of an unexcused absence. The letter did not mention the boycott, but warned parents that only absences due to illness, the death of a relative or a "qualified legal emergency" were eligible to be excused. Students with three unexcused or unverified absences in a row, or five total, are required to attend a hearing with an administrator and the school's social worker, the letter stated.

"It's always difficult when there are absences because they're always a burden on the teacher to help the child get caught up," Corley said Monday. "The parent sometimes makes decisions that put the child's best interest at risk."

• Photo: Source: Beaufort County School District.
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The number of school employees who were absent was not available Monday night, but it appears that few, if any, teachers took the day off for the boycott, said Mary Briggs, Southern Beaufort County Cluster superintendent.

Monday's boycott took place at a time when teachers were preparing students to take the statewide Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test. The lost day of preparation could hurt the students' performance on the standardized test, which in turn would hurt their schools' ratings.

"The timing stinks," said Jamie Pinckney, principal at Okatie Elementary School. "This is their parents' issue, and the children shouldn't be in the middle of this."

The absences also could hurt schools by raising their overall absenteeism rate, one factor in meeting Adequate Yearly Progress requirements under federal No Child Left Behind law, Briggs said.

Beaufort-Jasper Academy for Career Excellence director Catherine Smith said that attendance appeared normal when she left the school at 10 a.m. for meetings.

• Photo: Source: Beaufort County School District.
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Private schools in the area seemed to be spared any impact by the boycott. Officials at Hilton Head Preparatory School, Hilton Head Christian Academy, Heritage Academy and May River Montessori School all reported normal attendance.

Contact Dan Williamson at 706-8142 or . To comment on this story, please go to islandpacket.com.