Steven Krafft has never missed a day of school in his life. He’s never even been tardy to a class. The Kaneland High School junior has 1,980 days of perfect attendance so far, and he plans to keep it that way.
“He hasn’t missed a day of school ever,” Dr. Greg Fantozzi, Kaneland’s principal, confirmed. “That takes a lot of dedication.”
Krafft is the only student at Kaneland High School with a perfect record. Yet a mix-up last year almost spoiled it.
As a musician in the school’s jazz band, Krafft has his physical education class and his jazz band class on alternate “A” and “B” days at Kaneland. His P.E. teacher accidentally marked him tardy on a day that Krafft was scheduled to be in jazz band, not in physical education.
That black mark was something that Kraftt simply couldn’t handle.
“It was heartbreaking,” Krafft said.
When he went home, he said, his father was so upset that he actually shed a few tears.
The next day, Krafft went to Assistant Principal Ian Smith, who straightened the record out.
Yet even though he cared about his spotless record, Krafft never told his classmates about it, he said, until he got a letter from Kaneland High School congratulating him for it last week.
Then, he posted about it on his Facebook wall, letting his friends know about his lifelong perfect attendance.
What did they say?
“Thirty people ‘liked’ it,” Krafft said. “My dad said ‘good job.’”
Krafft hadn’t been going for a record until he reached sixth grade and suddenly realized that he had never missed a day.
“I was just never sick,” Krafft said. “But then I realized what I had. I realized that I had something no one else does. It’s unusual. It’s cool.”
“Plus,” he added, “I just don’t like doing make-up work.”