@ Chronic absenteeism in schools

[Velar Fricative]

The numbers remain stubbornly high across all district sizes, all levels of affluence, all states, etc. Lots of data and potential reasons in this piece. Sharing the NYT Morning newsletter with a brief summary plus the full article associated with it (gift links).

www.nytimes.com/2024/03/29/briefing/a-crisis-of-school-absences.html?unlocked_article_code=1.gU0.g0dp.4Ir1DVCcm40A&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&ugrp=c&sgrp=c-cb

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/29/us/chronic-absences.html?unlocked_article_code=1.gU0.8NwB.uKVf0_z1FxM-&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&ugrp=c&sgrp=c-cb

[Velar Fricative]

School attendance is one of my hills to die on and the “contagiousness” of chronic absenteeism outlined in the article is especially concerning.

OTOH, it does stress me out that my kids have gotten more sick this year than I can remember. Somehow our household has only ever gotten Covid in the summer though, so that helps lol. But every fever or diagnosis gets us closer to that 18-day threshold of chronic absenteeism.

I do agree that overall, the pandemic reshaped general society’s feelings about the importance of physically being at school. This will take a really long time to fix.

[scm1011]

Interesting. One of the reasons noted in the article - that post Covid people are more likely to stay home with more minor issues like bad colds/coughs - is certainly true in our house. Coupled with the fact that I now work remote, so having a kid take an extra day to recover is less of a strain than prior. In the before times, I absolutely would be more likely to send a kid who maybe *could* use an additional day at home off to school because I could not afford to miss another day at the office. With that barrier gone, I'm more likely to let them take an extra day to get back to 100%.

I also definitely see many families around me traveling during school time to avoid the pricier school vacation weeks. We cannot because my husband is a teacher, but considering the premium we pay to travel during Feb or April breaks I'd certainly consider it otherwise while my kids are young.

[dirtyred]

For some reason I can't quote on my phone this morning.

scm1011, I hope society is now normalizing staying home when you're sick and not going into work oe school so you can infect everyone else.

[underwaterrhymes]

While I recognize the importance of school and appreciate the concerns of chronic absenteeism, I also hate the bootstraps mentality that we should send our kids to school when they’re sick to make sure they don’t run into that 18-day threshold. My older child catches everything and also deals with anxiety and we have finally flat out told the principal that on particularly bad days, we just won’t be sending him.

It’s obviously deeper than this, but I feel like this needs to be a more nuanced discussion. Rather than making it about how can we make sure kids don’t miss school, I feel like it should be a discussion on how we can we provide resources to kids who are chronically absent and their families to maximize their education under the circumstances.

[Jalapeñomel]

It’s incredibly frustrating that schools have not learned anything from the shutdown. They picked up as if nothing had changed, expecting outcomes to be the same and they’re not.

Why don’t more schools have a legitimate virtual option?

Also, let’s not lump teachers, who are using their PTO for sickness/whatever for the first time ever, with chronic absenteeism. Teachers should be able to take their allotted time and not feel guilty about it.

[twinmomma]

We are dealing with this with my step son. He has extremely bad asthma and any little cold can easily turn into an ER visit with steroids and a week out of school despite our best efforts. Last year he was hospitalized and then out of school for two weeks. His school just seems to treat it like any other kid with chronic absenteeism and doesn't even acknowledge that it's a legit health issue. Last year his teacher didn't even ask how he was when we told her he was in the hospital. She never reached out or sent any work home. This year he was out sick for over a week and same thing - no outreach from the school at all until they sent a truancy letter home because he had too many absences this year. We're working on getting him a 504 to help with that in the future. But couple that with his mom believing it's totally fine to pull him out of school for vacations whenever she wants and this kid misses A TON of school each year. I honestly think it's because she has no concept of the value of in person learning since step son had remote learning for half of kindergarten, all of first, and then second was hit or miss because of covid. She just sees him missing school for fun stuff as no big deal at this point.

[abs]

Interesting. IME most kids don’t want to miss for minor illnesses because catching up even after missing just one day is so brutal. I really thought that would change after Covid but nope.

I do think there is a wide education gap even within schools that plays into this though. So is it school culture a bit? I’d be curious to see what the absence rate is in honors vs regular classes. DD is in both and she loves her science and math classes because it moves fast and everyone is engaged. She hates Spanish (regular) because it feels like babysitting and fights breakout daily. Even though it’s easy she isn’t engaged and is looking forward to the day she’s done with foreign language. It’s also why no matter how hard a pre-AP class may be she is sticking with them because she’d rather work hard but feel like she’s learning. So engagement could go a long way here. When kids don’t feel valued or feel like they are learning of course they don’t want to go.

My niece had a pretty bad high school experience. She started the year Covid hit and never got her bearings straight. By senior year she was “sick” a lot and had to go to Saturday school to make up her work. She also said school felt more like babysitting and was just not engaged in her (all regular) classes. So the mental health part rings really true.

Meanwhile schools are ignoring all of this and just keep pushing through on the tests. DD’s school life shut down entirely for 3 days of all day practice state tests. I get it. It does help students prepare and do well and it’s how schools get paid here. They also get paid from attendance. I can see why we are in this cycle but it’s broken. It turns out kids are only resilient to a degree and there is a lot of trauma to work through still.

[aspentosh]

Interesting article. We've never come close to 18 days, but I think a lot of that is because I SAH, H works from home, and we only have one kid. I know DD's friends that have multiple kids are ALWAYS sick because something is always getting passed around.

That being said, we don't send DD to school sick, even more so post-COVID. This year she has missed seven days (by far the most ever) due to flu and high fevers (and a couple early dismissals due to migraines). Some years are just worse and while I want my kid in school, I won't send her if it means she's sick and could infect other people.

Our MS principal has made this a big issue over the year and really reminding everyone that they need to be in schools. Now vacations are an "unexcused" absence so I wonder if that will change how many people pull their kids out of school for a trip.

[mcppalmbeach]

Interesting. I don’t know what to think. It’s evident our schools are “cracking down” about this. My friend was recently at a district meeting and found out that one of the biggest issues they are having is getting money from the state because the middle school her child attends (a “rich” school) has kids leaving early in the day because a local dance studio has classes starting before 4.

[Velar Fricative]

I do wish there could be a lot more leeway when it comes to illnesses. The article seemed to include all absences. A case of Covid, a case of the flu, and a case of strep in one year plus random fevers here and there can easily can put a kid above the 18 days. Not to mention children with chronic illnesses or diseases will have a hard time too. They definitely should be accounted for differently.

But, I also understand that an absence is an absence and we don’t want to get into the weeds of what’s a “worthy” absence or not, beyond illnesses I mean. A lot of families consider an off-peak trip to Disney a worthwhile absence. I do not and no one will convince me otherwise lol. But I sense there is a general feeling of “Well Johnny and Susie will be fine and can make up the work while we are back in the cabin after a day of skiing,” which does ignore the importance of how absences impact peers and schools too, which this article went into. And the fact that this is happening in affluent schools means it’s not something we can or should dismiss just because hey, at least we don’t have it as bad as the poor kids.

[Velar Fricative]

Mar 29, 2024 8:12:33 GMT -5 mcppalmbeach said:

Interesting. I don’t know what to think. It’s evident our schools are “cracking down” about this. My friend was recently at a district meeting and found out that one of the biggest issues they are having is getting money from the state because the middle school her child attends (a “rich” school) has kids leaving early in the day because a local dance studio has classes starting before 4.

I was actually going to bring up activities as a reason for affluent families. For example, travel sports have only gotten more intense. This is a new world I’m navigating since my parents were working class and we never did activities that weren’t offered for free through our school. DD1 plays travel hockey and I was furious when a tournament a few hours from home started its games on a Friday morning (not a holiday or school break) since we were initially told they’d start Friday night. So all four of us missed work/school (DH is a teacher). But apparently this is more typical than I thought. So yeah, that certainly feeds into the mentality that it’s okay to miss school if these tournaments are scheduling games on school days.

[plutosmoon]

There is a big difference between kids missing for illness and missing for other preventable reasons. Schools don't seem to differentiate, and in my experience excused absences are nearly impossible to get. Until they make a distinction, I don't know if this is truly the issue it's being made out to be.

DD got a truancy letter in K and we had to have an attendance meeting, all her absences were due to illness, we didn't go to the doctor for them so the school considered them unexcused. I can't afford $300 each time DD has a bad cold or stomach bug. At the attendance meeting they wanted a plan to improve DDs attendance, I said I guess I could send when she's sick, infect everyone and let you send her home to get the excused absence. They didn't seem to like my plan, but at least I haven't been called for a meeting again.

Even when DD had COVID, they didn't excuse all the days. I think 2 of the 5 were excused and we had a doctor's note that time. My friend's DD was hospitalized and they got called to truancy court in spite of documentation. My district is low income, so we don't see a lot of vacation absences, but there are issues with transportation and older kids being made to watch their younger siblings. Those are the kinds of absences that need to be addressed.

[abs]

Hm, yeah. Club sports are a problem. I do know a ton of kids that miss a lot of Friday’s due to dance/volleyball/soccer. Dance in particular is really bad. It’s every week. But parents feel like they need to do club sports so their kids make the high school team. And honestly club has become so popular that they do.

[Susie]

I saw this in the NYT email this morning, and interestingly, 1-2 days ago, DD (3rd grade) brought home a sheet from school about the cost of absenteeism to students.  I only skimmed it, but it went through a lot of the statistics on harms of missing school days.  I am guessing this is a big topic of conversation among education professionals.

I just checked DD's school portal, and so far this year she has 4 days absent.  1 was for a trip to run at XC nationals, 2 for a family vacation, and 1 illness.  She also has 4 either tardy or early dismiss days for doctor/dentist appt's.  Not terrible for March.  I dont't think we have any "elective" absences planned for the rest of the year.  

ETA:  Sometime around early Feb, I remember DD's teacher sent home a note that he was changing up a lot of their classroom routines, particularly around weekly spelling tests, and math facts, etc., because it was too difficult to keep the class together with as many absences as they had had.  She does not have a rookie teacher, so presumably these are methods and routines that have worked in past years, but this year is being extra.  It sounded really chaotic and difficult to manage.  It was mostly through January, when kids were just sick with different illnesses left right and center.  IDK what to do about that.  It seems to me like there is more seasonal illness in general now than there was pre-pandemic, but since I don't work in this area, I can't separate that perception from my lived experience of having 1 daycare kid pre-pandemic vs. 2 kids now (one school and one preschool).  We need both for kids to be in school, and also to not be when they have communicable illnesses.

One of the days DD was out of school on vacation, we happened to get an email to class parents about the "uneventful" day.  Apparently within the 1st 2 hours of the day, 5 kids in the class left sick.  Stomach bug, OMG.  What was odd was that it was the 1st day back from a week of winter break, so the kids did not catch it from each other in class.  I was relieved she wasn't there, but damn.  

[candreco]

We've seen this with DD in HS this year. The couple of times she's hit a 10% absent rate, we've gotten a letter and at one point she was supposed to attend a "student success" seminar during advisory that was going to instruct her on the importance of being in school (has another lecture ever made a kid want to be in school?). Of the nine days she's missed this year, she was sick for eight of them. That last one I did keep her home on an early-release day at the end of a quarter so we could take an earlier train for a weekend trip, which we timed to make sure it would be a day with no instruction or tests/assignments. She's maintained As and B+s in all of her classes, and has kept up with work/make ups when out for a few days.

I fully understand that chronic absenteeism is a problem for a lot of reasons, but there needs to be more nuance to whether a kid actually has barriers to attending (transportation, family needs, aversion due to a situation at school like bullying, etc.) vs. a kid who picks up a couple of colds over the course of a semester. Just a blanket policy of X days doesn't get resources to families who need them, and I can't imagine does much to improve outcomes.

[erbear]

While I appreciate that people are keeping their kids home now when they are sick, I am really struggling (as a teacher) with the amount of absences kids are having when they’re not sick. They don’t feel like coming in. Parents want to do something else. Whatever the reason, kids are missing a ton of school.

Unfortunately, the education machine didn’t slow or re-evaluate and the standards and tests are still there. So now I have less time with your kids to prep them for the same end result, and it’s impossible, and I’m the one who gets blamed when it doesn’t happen.

[erbear]

Mar 29, 2024 7:50:30 GMT -5 abs said:

Interesting. IME most kids don’t want to miss for minor illnesses because catching up even after missing just one day is so brutal. I really thought that would change after Covid but nope.

I do think there is a wide education gap even within schools that plays into this though. So is it school culture a bit? I’d be curious to see what the absence rate is in honors vs regular classes. DD is in both and she loves her science and math classes because it moves fast and everyone is engaged. She hates Spanish (regular) because it feels like babysitting and fights breakout daily. Even though it’s easy she isn’t engaged and is looking forward to the day she’s done with foreign language. It’s also why no matter how hard a pre-AP class may be she is sticking with them because she’d rather work hard but feel like she’s learning. So engagement could go a long way here. When kids don’t feel valued or feel like they are learning of course they don’t want to go.

My niece had a pretty bad high school experience. She started the year Covid hit and never got her bearings straight. By senior year she was “sick” a lot and had to go to Saturday school to make up her work. She also said school felt more like babysitting and was just not engaged in her (all regular) classes. So the mental health part rings really true.

Meanwhile schools are ignoring all of this and just keep pushing through on the tests. DD’s school life shut down entirely for 3 days of all day practice state tests. I get it. It does help students prepare and do well and it’s how schools get paid here. They also get paid from attendance. I can see why we are in this cycle but it’s broken. It turns out kids are only resilient to a degree and there is a lot of trauma to work through still.

Let’s be clear. This is not “schools”. This is the government making these demands. Every teacher worth their salt knows that these high stakes tests aren’t the gold standard of learning.

[abs]

Mar 29, 2024 9:09:45 GMT -5 erbear said:

Mar 29, 2024 7:50:30 GMT -5 abs said:

Interesting. IME most kids don’t want to miss for minor illnesses because catching up even after missing just one day is so brutal. I really thought that would change after Covid but nope.

I do think there is a wide education gap even within schools that plays into this though. So is it school culture a bit? I’d be curious to see what the absence rate is in honors vs regular classes. DD is in both and she loves her science and math classes because it moves fast and everyone is engaged. She hates Spanish (regular) because it feels like babysitting and fights breakout daily. Even though it’s easy she isn’t engaged and is looking forward to the day she’s done with foreign language. It’s also why no matter how hard a pre-AP class may be she is sticking with them because she’d rather work hard but feel like she’s learning. So engagement could go a long way here. When kids don’t feel valued or feel like they are learning of course they don’t want to go.

My niece had a pretty bad high school experience. She started the year Covid hit and never got her bearings straight. By senior year she was “sick” a lot and had to go to Saturday school to make up her work. She also said school felt more like babysitting and was just not engaged in her (all regular) classes. So the mental health part rings really true.

Meanwhile schools are ignoring all of this and just keep pushing through on the tests. DD’s school life shut down entirely for 3 days of all day practice state tests. I get it. It does help students prepare and do well and it’s how schools get paid here. They also get paid from attendance. I can see why we are in this cycle but it’s broken. It turns out kids are only resilient to a degree and there is a lot of trauma to work through still.

Let’s be clear. This is not “schools”. This is the government making these demands. Every teacher worth their salt knows that these high stakes tests aren’t the gold standard of learning.

Oh fully, 100% agree. DD’s teachers hate it, too, and try to make it stress free as possible. While I have issues with education at times it’s not a reflection on the teachers at all. I hope that was clear.

If you’d like me to go on a rant about Abbott and how increased funding could help I’d be happy to.

[whattheheck]

Mar 29, 2024 8:25:00 GMT -5 plutosmoon said:

There is a big difference between kids missing for illness and missing for other preventable reasons. Schools don't seem to differentiate, and in my experience excused absences are nearly impossible to get. Until they make a distinction, I don't know if this is truly the issue it's being made out to be.

DD got a truancy letter in K and we had to have an attendance meeting, all her absences were due to illness, we didn't go to the doctor for them so the school considered them unexcused. I can't afford $300 each time DD has a bad cold or stomach bug. At the attendance meeting they wanted a plan to improve DDs attendance, I said I guess I could send when she's sick, infect everyone and let you send her home to get the excused absence. They didn't seem to like my plan, but at least I haven't been called for a meeting again.

Even when DD had COVID, they didn't excuse all the days. I think 2 of the 5 were excused and we had a doctor's note that time. My friend's DD was hospitalized and they got called to truancy court in spite of documentation. My district is low income, so we don't see a lot of vacation absences, but there are issues with transportation and older kids being made to watch their younger siblings. Those are the kinds of absences that need to be addressed.

My DD has a hiatal hernia and therefore frequent nausea. I refuse to bring her to a doctor each time she is nauseous (nauseated?) when they won’t do anything above what I can do from home. So when the school nurse calls - I always ask “Are you SENDING her home based on your medical expertise?” Because this is then an excused absence. If the nurse is like “nope, just letting you know” then I thank them and tell them if it becomes severe enough for it to be an excused absence I’ll come get her. Because why the fuck should I take her to a PA for a note that says the same thing an experienced nurse has said. You can’t have it both ways school. Either the nurse has the expertise to send her home as an excused absence or she doesn’t. This is a chronic condition that she manages that doesn’t need be seen by a doctor/PA/NP each time when I have the medication at home to manage it. Once admin capitulated that the school nurse can excuse an absence things got easier.

[waverly]

This year knock on wood we haven’t been too sick. Last school year I feel like we had the tripledemic. DS was out for Covid and influenza. Luckily during the influenza, school was closed for PT conferences so he only missed 1 day because school was closed 2 days that week so he was off for 5 days including the weekend to rest. So that was really just a matter of luck.

This year the kids have only missed 1-2 days. In middle school it’s difficult to make up the work so I try to send them as much as possible and we no longer pull out for vacations.

[underwaterrhymes]

But also can we talk about how bullshit it is that schools get funding depending on how often kids are in school? Because what about underfunded schools where chronic absenteeism may be pervasive and students who already are under-resourced are further failed by the system?

[penguingrrl]

I was reading that article this morning and thinking all that’s been said in this thread. My youngest got a letter from the school due to “high absenteeism” despite his absences being because he was sick and several had doctors notes. It seems like there is no such thing as an “excused” absence in my district, at least I’ve never seen one, even with positive covid tests when quarantine was required. Hell, my oldest was in the hospital at the beginning of sophomore year and those days were marked unexcused even though we submitted paperwork showing the hospitalization. Additionally, I’ll say that post pandemic we are far less likely as a household to risk sending a kid to school while they’re contagious. The pandemic woke us up to how awful that is to do, and school policies need to factor that in. My oldest does their best to never ever miss a day because with block scheduling each day missed is like two days of instruction in each class and they’re in advanced classes (4 APs plus honors precalc), but also doesn’t want to get people sick, which has created so much stress.

I absolutely believe that chronic absenteeism is a problem, and that reasons go from family vacations to needing to watch younger siblings. And those are issues we need to address from a societal level without a doubt. But until they start to differentiate absences related to illness from other types I suspect they’re going to be viewing this through a skewed lens.

[redheadbaker]

Mar 29, 2024 8:25:00 GMT -5 plutosmoon said:

DD got a truancy letter in K and we had to have an attendance meeting, all her absences were due to illness, we didn't go to the doctor for them so the school considered them unexcused. I can't afford $300 each time DD has a bad cold or stomach bug. At the attendance meeting they wanted a plan to improve DDs attendance, I said I guess I could send when she's sick, infect everyone and let you send her home to get the excused absence. They didn't seem to like my plan, but at least I haven't been called for a meeting again.

They won't consider illness an excused absence without a note? Is that common? Ours doesn't require a doctor's note unless the absence is for three or more consecutive days. 

[pinkdutchtulips]

Are they including kids w school refusal issues as well?  Miss R's school attendance was spotty at best the year that her district was completely remote. I worked outside the home from when that school year started through May (school got out in early June) so she was home alone expected to do school work that never happened. Since her return to in-person schooling, its been practically non-existent. Thankfully we discovered she has ADD and got her an IEP but that only works if she AT school. She's now on Home & Hospital due to school refusal issues. 

[Susie]

Interesting about the issues getting absences excused.  I can see the codes on all of DD's attendance notes in the portal, and her illness absence is coded AE (absent/excused) and all of her medical/dental dismissals and tardies are TE or DE.

Her school has a google form for parents to report any absences, early dismissals, or tardies, and that's all they require to excuse when the reason is appropriate.

[plutosmoon]

Mar 29, 2024 11:07:35 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

Mar 29, 2024 8:25:00 GMT -5 plutosmoon said:

DD got a truancy letter in K and we had to have an attendance meeting, all her absences were due to illness, we didn't go to the doctor for them so the school considered them unexcused. I can't afford $300 each time DD has a bad cold or stomach bug. At the attendance meeting they wanted a plan to improve DDs attendance, I said I guess I could send when she's sick, infect everyone and let you send her home to get the excused absence. They didn't seem to like my plan, but at least I haven't been called for a meeting again.

They won't consider illness an excused absence without a note? Is that common? Ours doesn't require a doctor's note unless the absence is for three or more consecutive days. 

This is correct, no doctor note no excused absence. I always notify the school when DD is sick, the absence is always unexcused. It's hit or miss even with a doctor's note. If they get sent home sick from school, that day and the following day are excused, it seems the policy encourages parents to send sick kids.

During the height of COVID, she had an ill timed cold after close contact. She missed 4 days of school, and I was told we needed a separate doctor's note for each day, even though the note we submitted indicated she was to remain home until symptoms subsided. Her bout with actual COVID was the same, a separate note daily was required. I don't know if this is common.

[fancynewbeesly]

Interesting. Our district deals with it a lot-but more of school refusal or parents just don’t want to bother. I have one family that is either absent or late-like over an hour late every day because the kids don’t want to stop playing video games and get ready for school. Literally what the parents said to the school secretary.

But in NJ ALL absences are “unexcused” (even with doctors note). The ONLY excused absences are ones that are religious or take your kid to work day or college visits.

[quesyrah]

When my kids were still in school (we homeschool now), my son was having some
heart related issues and we were seeing a specialist 45 min away and often had to take what we could get as far as appointments, which meant that he missed a lot of school that year.

We got called into the principal’s office for a discussion with the truancy officer about how we were on the border of legal trouble for truancy.

I was gobsmacked- I had been as open as possible with the school about the absences, while still trying to maintain some privacy for my son. I thought they understood that we had extenuating circumstances.

But the principal explained that they lose money every time a kid is absent so they need kids in school every day.

Of course it was about money! I don’t know why funding is tied to attendance. It shouldn’t be.

[quesyrah]

Mar 29, 2024 11:47:45 GMT -5 fancynewbeesly said:

Interesting. Our district deals with it a lot-but more of school refusal or parents just don’t want to bother. I have one family that is either absent or late-like over an hour late every day because the kids don’t want to stop playing video games and get ready for school. Literally what the parents said to the school secretary.

But in NJ ALL absences are “unexcused” (even with doctors note). The ONLY excused absences are ones that are religious or take your kid to work day or college visits.

All of ours are unexcused too, even with a doctor’s note.