That's 100-thousand students who miss three and a half weeks of school a year.

Bend LaPine Superintendent of Schools, Ron Wilkinson says this issue is on his front burner.

"This community is the worst in terms of absences of all the communities I worked in. It's an attitude that we'll take our family vacation when its cheaper and convenient for us. But  it causes an issue with school attendance with kids."

Wilkinson says poor attendance is often linked to low income, but in the Bend LaPine School District, he says that's usually not the case.   Parents may pull the kids out for a week's vacation, but then that student gets sick and misses another week.