[Editors鈥� note: This story was reported by a 鈥渃ompletely unbiased鈥� Kansas City fan. But it was edited by a 鈥�49ers fan, and by a second editor, who thinks the Super Bowl is mainly a good excuse for eating too many potato chips.]
If the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl on Sunday, plenty of students there will be free to catch the red confetti when a victory parade winds through the city鈥檚 downtown neighborhoods a few days later.
The Kansas City, Mo., district and several neighboring school systems have already announced plans to close schools if there is a victory celebration Wednesday鈥攋ust as many did when the team won the big game in 2020 and 2023. Across the state line, in Kansas City, Kan., schools have not yet made an announcement about whether they would cancel for a parade, as they did last year.
Perhaps not wanting to risk bad luck, San Francisco schools have not said either way how they would handle a possible 49ers win. The school system has already planned a day off Friday for Lunar New Year celebrations.
The Super Bowl decision is a super-sized example of a tension district administrators face: Amid surging rates of chronic absenteeism, is it appropriate to call off classes for significant community events? If schools insist on being in session, will most students skip out anyway?
Canceling school 鈥渙nce for a very rare occasion of civic celebration, I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 a big deal,鈥� said Robert Balfanz, the director of the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, a research center that studies school attendance and student engagement. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we can scold our way to better attendance.鈥�
Balfanz is among the researchers who have sounded the alarm about climbing rates of chronic absenteeism, which is generally defined as missing at least 10 percent of school days, following the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Advocacy groups have encouraged educators to 鈥渞ebuild a culture of attendance鈥� by tracking data and sending consistent messaging to parents and students about the importance of coming to class.
Planning around rare, significant community events could be a part of those efforts if most students鈥攁nd many teachers鈥攁re expected to be no-shows, educators said in interviews and responses to a social media query.
鈥淥ur district canceled the last two times this has happened (as well as the Royals鈥� [2015 World Series victory] parade),鈥� suburban Kansas City teacher Susan H., who is clearly not tired of winning, , the platform formerly known as Twitter. 鈥淣ot enough staff available (and so many students gone anyway). Better to cancel and make up.鈥�
Excited students and tough calls
鈥淲e want to give our families and staff ample time to prepare in case of a victory,鈥� the Kansas City, Mo., district wrote in a notice to families about possible closures next week, shockingly unconcerned that they could negatively affect the game鈥檚 outcome by making the call early.
Traffic from the parade would also make it difficult to conduct normal bus routes, the district noted.
In San Francisco, an area with more college and professional sports teams than Kansas City, a football victory might be less of a cause for universal celebration among students, leading to fewer absences on parade day. In another large city with plenty of sports teams鈥攁nd winning records, when the Los Angeles Rams prepared to play in the 2022 Super Bowl, local outlet LAist asked: .鈥�
Kansas City-area districts, though, take game week seriously. Students throughout the region celebrated 鈥淢ahomes Monday鈥� Feb. 5, wearing No. 15 jerseys like Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The next day, they celebrated 鈥淭ravis and Taylor Tuesday,鈥� in honor of Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
I don鈥檛 think we can scold our way to better attendance.
Administrators all over the United States have made similar game-time cancellation decisions after big local sporting wins or other locally significant events.
Districts in Green Bay, Wis., received a state waiver to start the 2024-25 school year early, allowing them to cancel school when the city hosts the NFL draft in April 2025, the . Green Bay is the smallest metropolitan area with an NFL team, and the effects of traffic and a swell of visitors are expected to complicate school operations more than they would in larger urban areas, the paper reported.
Some Philadelphia parents protested when schools in the region closed for a day in 2018 after the Eagles won their first Superbowl victory,
鈥淰ery selfish in my opinion. Some of us don鈥檛 have the flexibility to call out of work 鈥榖ecause the Eagles won,鈥欌�� the mother of a student at a Newark, Del., charter school said at the time.
Still others in Philadelphia鈥攌nown for greasing telephone poles to keep overly enthusiastic fans from climbing them in celebration鈥攑raised the move.
鈥淚鈥檓 taking my kids whether there鈥檚 school or not. And I鈥檓 a teacher,鈥� Eric P., an Eagles fan, when asked about a hypothetical Super Bowl win.
Planning around low-attendance days
Balfanz said he鈥檚 heard anecdotes from district leaders that parents have gotten more lax about attendance since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, even taking students out for vacation midweek, but there is no data to explore the extent of such claims.
Districts have responded to concerns about shifting family attitudes through messaging campaigns about the importance of 鈥渟chool every day鈥� and targeted efforts, like text updates to parents about their children鈥檚 absence rates.
Some leaders have attempted to work with parents on mid-term vacations instead of fighting against them. The ., school board voted in December to add three 鈥渕ini-break鈥� four-day weekends to the district鈥檚 2024-25 calendar, encouraging families to take trips then instead of missing instructional time.
In a similar way, school systems might make a call to cancel classes after the Kentucky Derby or a Stanley Cup win, Balfanz said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about offsetting costs and benefits,鈥� Balfanz said.
Missing 鈥渙ne day out of 180, one time in your school career, is not going to change things,鈥� he said, while acknowledging that some parents and educators might disagree.
