Student absence rates at Sask. schools have grown since the pandemic

Grade 12 student Kaitlynn Carnie says her day starts with a simple question: Can I handle school today? 

The Archbishop M.C. O'Neill High School student said she first grabs her phone to check on what she would miss if she stayed home, weighing each period like a set of scales. 

“If I miss, is it going to be a bad thing? Is there an exam that I should be there for?”

The 17-year-old was in Grade 6 when the COVID-19 pandemic started and spent a year and a half learning online from home. After she returned to the physical classroom in Grade 8, she often suffered from panic attacks and missed days of school at a time, she said. 

She now considers her mental health when deciding whether or not to attend school, Carnie said.

“Being at school a lot can add a lot of strain to you,” she said. “Sometimes you just need to take a day off so you can recalibrate yourself.”

Carnie said it’s often deadlines or tests that get her out the door. 

“If I see that we're doing notes that day … it makes me want to go less, because I know what's going to happen and it's stuff that I can learn on my own at home rather than being at the school itself."

CBC News compiled and analyzed data on school absences across Canada within the last five years and found that across the country, more elementary and secondary students are missing school, including in the Regina and Saskatoon public divisions. 

Both divisions said several factors are contributing to the increased level of absences. 

Carnie’s classmate Stacy Dustyhorn, 17, said it’s been harder to be enthusiastic about school since returning to the classroom after the pandemic. 

She struggled with online learning during the pandemic, but could easily ask for help, she said. 

“My parents could support me, and like my teachers always said, 'Oh, just send me a text’ and I would,” Dustyhorn said. 

Asking for help when she struggles doesn’t feel as easy now, and when she falls behind, she wants to stay home.