Poor NSD school attendance focus of Auditor General

Poor NSD school attendance focus of Auditor General

Low student attendance in the Northland School Division was singled out as an area of concern in the Report of the Auditor General of Alberta—March 2015. Auditor General Merwan Saher has recommended that Alberta Education exercise oversight of NSD’s plans to improve student attendance. “In our view, oversight is the key to not failing another generation of the division’s children,” said Saher. Premier Jim Prentice, who also serves as Aboriginal relations minister, agreed that attendance was an area of concern. “We cannot properly educate our children if they are not in the school room. We have work to do, we need to bear down on the problem of student absenteeism. …The children who are most at risk are the children who are not at school receiving the educational opportunities we all want for our children,” said Prentice.