[TimorousBestie]

I’m very against financial incentives for perfect attendance. American schools by and large still do not have adequate ventilation and space to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. Combine that with a state like Alabama with low childhood vaccine rates and it’s a recipe for epidemics like measles.

[wildzzz]

Birmingham had a chronic absentee rate of 29% prior to this program which is defined as missing at least 10% of school days. They brought it down to 14%. Missing class is a major detriment to learning and causes kids to fall behind faster than they can keep up. Doing nothing to combat chronic absenteeism is not really the solution to preventing the spread of childhood diseases.

[TimorousBestie]

> Doing nothing to combat chronic absenteeism

Not something I was advocating, thanks.

[ch4s3]

This might be the dumbest take I've read online in months. Alabama has had 1 case of measles in 24 years. Alabama requires MMR for entry to public k-12 schools and has a 95.3% vaccination rate which meets the accepted threshold of 95% for heard immunity. One minute of searching could have turned this up for you. But you're making up some stupid bullshit about "ow childhood vaccine rates".

Seriously, I can't fathom why you'd think the poorest students in Alabama shouldn't be receiving high quality in person education even in the face of imperfect ventilation. Talk about the perfect being the enemy of the good.

[TimorousBestie]

> Alabama requires MMR for entry to public k-12 schools

For now. Your state legislature has multiple bills in progress to increase vaccine exemptions and reduce requirements, following the national trend.

> and has a 95.3% vaccination rate

93.8% the year prior, see below. We’ll see if it’s an upward trend or an outlier soon enough.

> But you're making up some stupid bullshit about "ow [sic] childhood vaccine rates".

Here’s a weighting of various vaccination metrics by state: https://www.newsweek.com/states-that-vaccinate-most-map-2127... (2025)

And a local report from a couple months ago: https://alabamareflector.com/2025/12/08/alabama-sees-lower-v...

> The vaccination rate for children aged 13-17 nationwide remained high in 2024, but it drops significantly in Alabama as children age. Where about 70% of 4-10-year-olds are up to date on vaccines statewide, only 25% of children 11-18 years old are up to date.

And as I said to the sibling commenter, I’m not advocating doing nothing about absenteeism. It’s perfectly reasonable to criticize a specific method while endorsing its intended effect.