Perfect K-12 attendance garners awards

By LINDA CHION KENNEY

Jaylyn Bido is grateful for the new laptop and $500 gift card that comes with being one of 10 graduating Hillsborough County public school students who leave the school district with perfect attendance.

Photo courtesy of Jaylyn Bido
Riverview High graduate Jaylyn Bido is an incoming freshman at New York University. While her major is undecided, she said she does have an interest in psychology.

But it’s not the honor the Riverview High School graduate holds most dear.

“Going to school, that’s kind of your job as a student; you have to come to school,” Bido said. “It’s nice that I did that, but I don’t think of it as a major thing that I accomplished.”

Held in higher esteem for Bido, an incoming freshman at New York University, are the grades she earned at Boyette Springs Elementary School, Barrington Middle School and Riverview High.

“I never got a B, ever, in my life,” said Bido, who indicated that she took 10 AP classes and 10 dual-enrollment classes at Hillsborough Community College, graduating within the top 10 of her graduating class and with a 7.52 weighted GPA.

“I always had straight A’s since we started getting A’s in school, which I believe was in the third grade,” Bido said. “I feel that is a bigger accomplishment because I had to work for that. I had to put effort into that. I had to study and focus.”

Still, one can’t help but marvel at both the effort and good fortune it takes to have perfect attendance from kindergarten through high school graduation. Superintendent Addison Davis did the math, noting that for over 13 years, at 180 school days a year, perfect attendance amounts to 2,340 days of never missing roll call.

“This is truly an accomplishment, maintaining a diligent work ethic and choosing to stay the course,” Davis said, at the June 9 school board meeting. He indicate that each of the 10 graduating seniors with perfect K-12 attendance would be presented with a new laptop, from Toyota of Tampa Bay, and a $500 gift card, from Suncoast Credit Union.

“I’ll just say, don’t forget to put that on your resume, because if you go apply for a job, your employer is going to take special notice of the fact that you are dedicated and dependable,” School Board Chair Melissa Snively said.

Photo courtesy of Jaylyn Bido

“I concur with Superintendent Davis,” said board member Lynn Gray. “Definitely in life, those who show up every day, whether they feel good, bad or indifferent, it does say a lot about their character, their tenacity and their perseverance for excellence.”

For the record, Bido said she had a “really good immune system” and that her mother never forced her to go to school or to get all A’s.

“My mom always told us she would be proud of us no matter what we did,” Bido said. “If we got a B or a C and that’s the best we could do, then she would be okay with that. If she knew we could get an A, then that’s what she expected. Over time, that became something that was more of my perspective as well. I knew that an A was my best, so I always got an A.”

As for her health, Bido said if she felt a bit off in the morning, she knew she could go to school and text her mother to sign her out. “If I got really sick, where I had a fever or was just really ill, it would always be on a Friday night or Saturday night and I’d be better by Monday morning. Sometimes it would end up being on a holiday. Honestly, I believe it was kind of the stress, especially in high school. I held it all together until I got a break.”

Photo courtesy of Jaylyn Bido
Riverview High graduate Jaylyn Bido, 18, graduated with perfect attendance and straight A’s throughout her years of schooling in the Hillsborough County School District. She also attended Barrington Middle School and Boyette Springs Elementary School.

Bido said after the fifth grade she first recognized that a perfect-attendance run was possible, and that realization motivated her to keep the record going. “If just felt like it would be a waste,” she said. “if I decided one day, like in my freshman year, that ‘Ugh, I don’t want to go to school today.’”

Indeed, the coronavirus pandemic forced her hand, with E-learning in place shortly after schools shut down following spring break.

“I stayed in school all my life; I never missed a day, so it was kind of an award to be able to stay home for the last two months,” Bido said. “I’m not going to say I was happy that school got closed, since it was my senior year and it would have been nice to end it with the people I had been in school with for four years. But it was such a break, such a relief, not to have to deal with exams at school.”

As for what she would tell her own kids, “I honestly believe the way my mom handled it feels perfectly fine, that it was my record, that I wanted to go to school every day, that I wanted to get A’s,” Bido said. “She always made sure I was staying on top of my schoolwork. She was there to support me. As long as your kids know they are supported and loved no matter how successful they are, they’ll figure it out on their own. That’s how I think it should be.”

Also recognized for K-12 perfect attendance: Alexander Dyer (Newsome), Adaez Echetebu (King), David Escamilla-Suqui (Plant City), Mark Grabau (Newsome), Madeline Houston (Armwood), Gary Jones (Sickles), Rebekah Lorentzen (Durant), Franchelle Lundy (Blake) and Julia Salvo (Bloomingdale).