Thousands of Macon students regularly absent from school. How district tries to stop it.

Reality Check is a Telegraph series digging deeper into key issues and focusing on accountability. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email mynews@macon.com. The sight of empty desks is not a new issue for the Bibb County School District. Yet school officials remain determined to reduce the number of absences and get students back in classrooms amid districtwide attendance concerns. For the 2023-2024 academic year, 28.6% of roughly 21,500 public school students in Macon were chronically absent, said Jamie Cassady, the district’s assistant superintendent of student affairs. Chronically...