The goals set for the 2025-26 school year by Altoona Area School District administrators are laudable, indeed.

However, now that the goals are in place and have been made available to district residents and others interested in the school system’s goings-on, the challenge, going forward, will revolve around ensuring that highest-priority status is accorded to the right objective, for special attention, while lower-priority objectives are allowed to continue moving forward as well at their own pace.

One item especially sticks out among the objectives discussed in a front-page article in the Mirror’s Sept. 25 edition.

That is district administrators’ hope of reducing significantly the problem of chronic absenteeism, defined as 18 or more missed days of school whether they be excused or unexcused absences.

It is tough to keep pace with course work when there are so many days of being absent from classes.

A student can learn from what a textbook presents, but tying together everything that a class is supposed to entail requires a teacher’s insight in the subject matter to help seal the knowledge and understanding so that a student can move on prepared for the next level of study he or she will encounter.

Trouble is, many of the students guilty of chronic absenteeism have little or no interest in learning, and those are the young people who are most difficult to get back into the classroom.

What a challenge, but Altoona administrators must remain committed to making headway regarding the problem. Of course, parents of the young people in question must be willing to do their part to help rectify the situation.

Unfortunately, there are homes, though, where the parents, as well as the students themselves, share the blame equally for chronic absenteeism.

Certainly there will be a time when those guilty of chronic absenteeism will come to grips with the folly of their anti-school attitude — when, upon entering adulthood, they find themselves greatly limited in the opportunities available to them and having to live with greatly limited income potential, not only for themselves but also for raising a family.

Altoona School District Superintendent Brad Hatch and district administrators are embracing the right thinking about the needed adjunct for addressing chronic absenteeism.

That is making the school district a shining light where young people want to be. Hatch said the goal this year is to reduce chronic absenteeism by 10%, but that is a weak number for a problem so serious. Unfortunately, reality has it that getting the students in question back to class will not be easy, but district officials — and parents — should not stop trying.

While another district goal is to get back into Altoona’s schools at least 60 of the approximately 300 district students currently enrolled in outside cyber charter schools, accomplishing that must remain secondary to the greater task of tackling effectively the chronic-absenteeism problem, which houses long-term negative ramifications for the young people’s lives.

Most young people studying responsibly under their cyber charter enrollment presumably will avoid such ramifications. According to Hatch, the administrators plan to address their goals by “personalizing education,” involving teachers and other staff members.

“The overlying motivation is that we want the educational experience that we are providing to be a place where kids don’t want to miss school for any reason,” Hatch said.

That is as it should be.