Every Vernon school is above the state's absence limit

What happened

New Jersey requires a school to write a corrective action plan when 10% or more of its students miss at least a tenth of the school year. On October 16, 2025 the board approved plans for all six Vernon schools. In 2024-25 the rates were 33.7% at Walnut Ridge preschool, about 16% at Cedar Mountain, 14.7% at Rolling Hills, 18.1% at Lounsberry Hollow, 14.4% at Glen Meadow and 14.3% at the high school.

Why it matters to families

Children who miss that much school fall behind in reading and maths, and the pattern starts in preschool here. The rates have come down from their post-pandemic peak - Walnut Ridge was 66.4% in 2022-23 - but every school is still well above the level at which the state requires a plan.

The evidence

The corrective action plans attached to the October 16, 2025 agenda give each school's history and its planned steps. Walnut Ridge's plan reports 33.7% chronically absent in 2024-25 against 66.39% in 2022-23; a parent survey there found 46.1% of families named illness or mental health and 24.6% named family trips. The high school plan shows 14.3% in 2024-25, with grade 12 at 18.7%.

The source