Chronic absenteeism is an issue affecting schools all across Colorado. In the 2024-2025 school year, more than a quarter of students (28.4%) were chronically absent.

That issue is even more prevalent on the Western Slope. Mesa County Valley School District 51’s most recent figures showed a chronic absenteeism rate of more than 36%.

“It’s a number that has, since COVID, bulged across the state. Of course, we’re not immune to what happens across the state and we’ve seen that number here mimic that,” said D51 Director of Student Services and Support Dan Bunnell. “As a system, as a department, as a team with our schools, we’re not seeing that chronic absenteeism number drop back down to where it was previous to COVID. It’s been delayed across the state, but we see our number kind of lagging

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