Falling behind academically can be detrimental to any student's education.

"Missing one day is really difficult, especially when most of our students are carrying six, seven classes and some of them even have eight or nine classes. We don't want them to get too far behind," said Union-Endicott High School Principal Steven DiStefano.

Administrators say students who are chronically absent are much more likely to drop out altogether.

"Most of the kids get through with their credits and their exams. What we find is that the kids who are chronically absent starting in ninth grade and then following that same pattern through 10th, 11th and 12th grade are really struggling at the end of their four years to graduate on time," said DiStefano.

That's why the Union-Endicott School District is hoping to address issues before they get worse.

Students who miss four or more days in a row, excused or not, will now be enrolled in a credit recovery program.

"We're going to ask them to come to our after school program which is going to be called attendance recovery, and we used this as a means because New York State, and nationally actually, there is a chronically absent number," said Union-Endicott High School Assistant Principal and Attendance Committee Member Deb Darling.

That number now includes any student who misses 10 percent, or 18 days out of a 180 day school year.

755 students were considered chronically absent in the Union-Endicott district last year.

"If you're just missing two or more days a month, you're on the path toward being chronically late, so we figure if we can help those students who are already on the path, then we can academically help them and support them to be successful," said Darling.

U-E hopes to decrease their numbers by 10 percent this year.