Spring semester, 2026, NC kicked off a fresh campaign aiming to combat the concerning quantity of absences and tardies among the student population: “Be here, to get there.” The introduction to this initiative originated from concern over the rapidly declining attendance rate, as well as the Cobb County School District’s (CCSD) involvement with schools experiencing particularly high absence rates. The county defines this issue as “chronic absenteeism”— a total number of absences that matches or exceeds 10 percent of the school year. The concept of “Be here to get there” remains under construction, but features a defined goal of encouraging students to attend school in order to build a successful future.
“I know if you’re here doing the right thing, you are safe, and you are learning, and I want every kid that comes through to have the opportunity to do whatever they want. If you don’t graduate or you don’t graduate on time, you shut doors. I don’t like that. I got into education because I like kids, and I like education. So I want to see other people be successful, you know, because of the work, and again, it helps the teachers, it helps the kids, and [this initiative] helps my assistant principals because they have less discipline to do,” NC principal Dr. David Bell said.
During the first semester of the 2025-26 school year, NC personnel studied the behavior and attendance of students and increased the level of discipline, including phone calls home after 12 tardies. In engaging parents, NC hopes to rally extra help to encourage academic excellence. The first semester also witnessed an escalated enforcement of punishment for unexcused tardies and absences, such as a compounding number of in-school suspension (ISS) per tardies, loss of parking privileges at 18 tardies and social worker contact at 30. An unprecedented number of teachers posted in the hallways during class transitions additionally serves to encourage students to attend class in a timely manner.
As positive reinforcement, NC plans to create rewards for those with a certain level of attendance. Such incentives include a raffle for free prom tickets and extra graduation tickets. For underclassmen who find these rewards inapplicable, assistant principal Lisa Sparks plans to hand out snacks and treats in the Freshmen Academy. While these enticing aspects of the campaign provide ample motivation to students, the mission exists notably to raise awareness of the attendance issue and to emphasize the importance of staying in class.
The long-term plan for the campaign lies completely in its results. As the efforts hold a negligible or positive impact on the student attendance rate, the initiative will adapt to address the needs of the school. While a realistic expectation predicts a 5% reduction in absences, Bell ambitiously strives to oversee a 10% drop.
“Much like any other experiment, you have to see where you go. And then you’re going to look at the data, and if it’s good, we will continue to do it. If it’s good but not great, we add and subtract. I kind of treat it like a science experiment. So this [enforcement] is what we’re doing today. If you were to ask me in May, we may be doing something different. We may have done a complete 180, pivoted or gone a different direction. If it works, I’m not getting rid of it. If it doesn’t work, then we change it. I don’t know that it will, but I know that before we were doing nothing,” Bell said.
