Present! News10NBC takes attendance of students and teachers to see the omicron impact

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — We are taking attendance at our local schools, and not just for the students, for the teachers too. We want to see the impact of the Omicron variant on our classrooms. The (a) signifies the total number of students absent.

WEST IRONDEQUOIT

	Jan. 10	Jan. 3
Students	83	86
Teachers	89	90

BRIGHTON

	Jan. 10	Jan. 3
Students	85.5	86
	489 (a)	442 (a)
Teachers	92.1	92.6
	28 (a)	26 (a)

PAL-MAC

	Jan. 10	Jan. 3
Students	84	90
Teachers	92	92

GREECE

	Jan. 10	Jan. 3
Students	82.7	86.7 (avg for 2021-21 school year is 89.4%)
Teachers		95
		148 (a)

WHEATLAND-CHILI

	Jan. 10
Students	82
Teachers	87

SPENCERPORT

	Jan. 10	Jan. 3
Students	88.3	85.3
	417 (a)	526 (a)
Teachers	93	92
	31 (a)	34 (a)

HILTON

	Jan. 10	Jan. 3
Students	87	91.9
	604 (a)	372 (a)
Teachers	89	90.1
	45 (a)	40 (a)

PENFIELD

	Jan. 10	Jan. 3
Students	89	89
Teachers	89	90

In East Rochester, student attendance dropped a point from Monday to Monday. Eighty percent the first day back from break and 79% Monday, Jan. 10.

New York State Education data shows ER’s average attendance before COVID was 95%.

Brean: "What story do you see when you see those numbers?"

Jim Haugh, East Rochester school superintendent: "I see some fluctuation. I see some variability that we would not typically see this time of year."

Haugh is the superintendent in East Rochester. He says in ER, they’re used to change by now.

Haugh: "And so this just happens to be the next challenge, if you will."

In the districts that shared their data, attendance for teachers is, on average, in the low 90s. It’s normally in the mid-90s.

Brean: "So let’s say you’ve got a math teacher that can’t be in. How do you cover that math class?

Haugh: "Well we have emergent subs we have without collaboration through BOCES and St. John Fisher College so we have college students here on a regular basis."

Haugh said regular teachers are filling in.

Brean: "Have you ever had to get into a classroom in the past week because of this?"

Haugh: "Not yet. But I’m on call."

Many of the schools that responded to me say they’re working on a five-day quarantine period now. They all have remote plans but call them the last resort.