Central Oregon’s youngest students are regularly attending class at a rate far below pre-pandemic levels.

That’s according to new data released by the Oregon Department of Education on Thursday, part of the state’s annual at-a-glance profiles, which provide school district populations, class sizes, demographic data and other information.

The state uses kindergarten through second grade to measure regular attendance rates among school districts because these are the most formative years of a students’ experience for attendance habits, educators say. A student is deemed a “regular attender” if he or she goes to at least 90% of their classes.

Between the 2018-2019 and 2021-2022 academic years , the six school districts in Central Oregon reported an average of a more than 22 percentage point drop of kindergarten through second grade students regularly attending class, from 81.5% to 59.2%.

“It’s definitely below where we’d want it to be,” said Joel Hoff, Crook County School District’s assistant superintendent, attributing the decline to the pandemic sending students home ill. The district reported its regular attendance rate among this student population dropped from 84% in the 2018-2019 school year to 56% last year.

Redmond schools reported a similar drop, from 81% to 65%. Superintendent Charan Cline said he was glad to see the district’s regular attendance rate being near the state’s 64%, which was almost 16% lower than in the 2018-2019 academic year.

State education officials said Wednesday that the delta and omicron waves of the coronavirus contributed to the drop, sending students home ill and heightening concerns among families.

Cline said the state’s average was a low bar to clear.

“People have gotten very used to coming to school when it suited them or working on their own timeline, so in this case we are working to reestablish behavior norms all the way around at our schools,” Cline said in an interview Wednesday.

The state also released data on the total number of ninth graders on track to graduate. These results were mixed for Central Oregon districts. Only Redmond saw this rate drop to below pre-pandemic levels with 78% of students on track to graduate, the lowest rate in Central Oregon.

Cline said this is an area the district is trying to improve, acknowledging that the district’s rate of students on track to graduate is slightly lower than the state average.

He pointed to programs specifically focused on success among ninth graders and high school success coordinators as efforts the district is making to improve. Cline said the district’s middle schools are working hard on creating a culture of excellent attendance as a way to help students develop good habits prior to entering high school.

“I would say the pandemic hurt us, and we definitely have a new norm,” Cline said. “And so now it is time to assess where we are at and move forward, and that is what our district is doing.”