Many Colorado students are chronically absent. KUNC’s Leigh Paterson hit the hallways to study solutions

Colorado kids are missing a lot of school. This past academic year, nearly one in three was chronically absent – that is more than 250,000 students.“If you’re missing 10% or more of school days you are considered chronically absent,” Leigh Paterson told In The NoCo’s Erin O’Toole. Both excused and unexcused absences count, and while the percentage of chronically absent students improved a bit last academic year compared to the year before, generally, this is a growing problem in Colorado, Paterson said. The KUNC senior editor and reporter visited schools in two Northern Colorado districts to speak with students and learn about potential solutions. She shared some of her reporting with us today.