I had a phone call from a parent recently. She was upset that I did not close our schools during a recent storm. The roads were clear, businesses were open, and parents were either at work or heading off to work.

It was wet and we all certainly needed to drive carefully, but it never occurred to me that we would close our schools. After all, if we closed the schools while parents were expected to be at work that would really cause problems throughout our community.

Then it occurred to me: “When did daily attendance, rain or shine, happy or sad, stop being a common expectation?”

Now I fully understand that we have just gone through a difficult, worrisome flu pandemic. The Konocti Unified School District has recently spent a great deal of time, energy and money advising parents and students about healthy behaviors. This information and the change in healthy habits have been beneficial.

I’m not addressing contagious disease here; I’m addressing a mindset. It is the mindset that getting up every day and getting to work on time is simply what you are supposed to do. There is no, “Do I feel like going to school or work?” You go to school or work unless you are physically unable to do so. After all, “the early bird catches the worm” and “you must be present to win.”

We live in a world in which those with the greatest skills, knowledge and those who try hardest have the greatest success and have the greatest chance of employment. When you get to the professional level in sports, all of the athletes have a tremendous amount of natural physical ability. But they have reached the professional level only because they also worked very hard and put in huge amount of time to perfect their skills.

Our students are required to learn more, at an earlier age, than they have in the past. It just makes sense when you consider the advance in science, math, and that history books now include Clinton, Bush and 9/11. The third grade math standards now include elementary algebra, geometry and probability theory. Algebra is a requirement in the eighth grade. Our children need to put in the time and effort required to be successful and that requires daily attendance.

We are coming to the most important academic months of the school year. Every grade level and course in California has academic standards that students are required to master to be eligible to move on to the next grade or to pass the course. The majority of these standards, and certainly the most complex ones, are taught from November through mid-May.

Missing even one day during this time places a student behind. In fact, every day missed costs a student two days of learning. Not only is the missed day lost, but the student spends the return day catching up.

Studies have shown that if a student attends school less than 95 percent of the time, then his/her ability to learn the necessary standards is significantly reduced. Ninety-five percent attendance requires missing no more than one day per month.

The success of our children and our schools depends on excellent attendance. Students who fall behind cannot score as well on the standardized tests. When parents are looking at moving into an area, one of their main concerns is the quality of the schools. One of the ways that parents determine the quality of schools is test scores. Low test scores mean our community will have fewer residents coming into our area and businesses will suffer. Attendance directly affects our community’s economic well-being.

Our school also receives funding based upon Average Daily Attendance (ADA). Each 1 percent of ADA received brings over $150,000 to the Konocti Unified School District. This is the money that we use to pay teachers and other staff, keep class sizes low, buy materials, and provide athletics, music, drama, art and other enrichment. The less money we have, the less we can do for our students.

Student attendance affects our kids’ achievement, our schools and our community. We must make a strong effort over the next few months to have all of our children attend school daily. Any incentives that we can give our kids to encourage them to master this important life skill must be provided.

One of the first things we must teach them is that you must be present to win. In this case, it is a win-win because our schools and community benefit as well.

Dr. William MacDougall, Ed.D., is superintendent of the Konocti Unified School District.