@ Chronic absenteeism in schools

[meanie]

My family was sick for the entire month of January due to an upper respiratory virus that led to pneumonia.

In our many Drs trips we heard that pneumonia and illness in general were really prevalent this year and they were crediting it to immunity being down from people being home during COVID times even though shut downs ended a few years ago.

This, combined with remote working arrangements being more widespread, definitely is a big contributor. Not too long ago we might have sent our kids to school when sick because it meant lost wages if a parent had to stay home - now we keep them home without hesitation.

I think it will eventually even out but it's going to take a lot longer. Overall these numbers will probably stay a bit higher than they were historically because now we are set up to work remotely in a lot of jobs.

[chickadee77]

Absenteeism has never bothered me, though I can see where it makes teachers' already nearly impossible jobs even more difficult.

I missed a ton of school as a kid (chronic severe asthma back in the 80's when we didn't have nebulizers at home). They threatened to hold me back in 2nd grade due to attendance and my mom laughed because in 1st, they had wanted me to skip to 3rd (I was top of my class).

We homeschool now, in part because we travel a lot and we don't want to deal with truancy and/or just the issues that arise in continuity with frequent absences.

I think it's also a reflection of the direction current society is moving: remote work, work/life balance, etc. I don't know what the solution is, but I don't see it getting better without a change in how schools work overall.

[macmars45]

In DS' kinder year he was out so much. Every sickness needed a pcr test in order to go back to school until March of that school year. So every sickness was at least 3 days waiting for the results on top of the sicknesses themselves. For his 1st grade year he again missed a ton of school. We received the truancy letter from the school. I laughed and threw it in the recycle. So sorry he had fevers and stomach bugs galore. I wasn't sending him to school burning up or barfing so it was ridiculous.

This year (2nd grade) DS has only missed 6 days and it's April. It's a damn miracle as far as I'm concerned.

I went back to work this school year (in the same school DS attends). I've missed 4 days for covid and 3 days staying home with DS. Again, I consider that pretty good.

ETA: there are some kids I work with who deal with chronic absenteeism. I worry about them because they're the ones who are already struggling academically. I'm not involved in the parent side of the issue; that's the principal and classroom teachers challenge.

[mysteriouswife]

We had to take DS out of school for a college tour with DD. We had no one else to watch him. We disclosed the situation to the attendance clerk and she told us to take him to the doctor and get a note for it to not affect their attendance. Apparently, it was one of the attendance reporting days going to the state. Until that time I had no idea attendance was randomly reported to the government for funding. We have only kept the kids out a handful of times for travel. Most of the time it is illness.

[starlily]

As a prosecutor, my current assignment is actually to work with school districts to reduce truancy and absenteeism by serving as a panel member on attendance review boards. Our office participates in the program as a crime prevention initiative; people are more likely to stay out of the system if they stay in school and get at least a HS diploma. The goal with families brought in is NOT to file charges (and I haven't in the 6 years I've been doing this), but rather to try to get at the root issues and get the right services & support in place. Most families don't get to our level until 30+ absences (mostly unexcused) because most districts have too many families that technically qualify, but they choose to focus on the worst of the worst. So we usually meet with families who have had ongoing attendance issues despite school level interventions or who don't communicate with the school administration at all. The laws re: excused and unexcused vary by state, so I'll just speak generally.

I've been doing this both pre and post covid. Pre-covid, I'd say that parental apathy and undiagnosed/untreated mental health issues were the most common reasons we saw. Post-covid, these are still two of the top reasons, but we're also seeing more complex childcare issues. A lot of people lost their caregivers during covid. A lot of parents also took jobs farther away, and either leave the kids on their own in the mornings to get to school, or will let them stay home at the slightest symptom because they know they can't leave work to do an early pickup if things worsen during the day and the school calls. Housing instability and other financial issues, chronic health issues requiring educational alternatives, and lack of routine are other common reasons that come up. The number of young kids staying up until 1-3am scrolling on their phones, either with or without their parents' knowledge, is astounding. Unreported bullying also comes up often, and very occasionally criminal activity comes up.

In general, the districts I work with focus on working with elementary and middle school families because that's when parents are more likely to be influential. When high schoolers are brought in it's usually to assess where they are with graduation credits and whether a non-traditonal program will increase their chances of receiving a diploma.

The panels I serve on usually bring in school and district admin, school nurses, school resource officers, social workers, case management services, and behavioral health representatives so that everyone can pool resources and info to give to the families. The supports put into place vary depending on what's needed but have included tutoring, counseling for the student and/or family, bus services, assistance with establishing housing and medical insurance, providing shoes & clothing, parenting classes, drug & alcohol classes, class schedule changes, change of school placement, developing health plans, incentive programs, short term independent study to cover vacations, etc. For the vast majority of families we meet with, finding out about the legal obligations and potential consequences along with putting supports in place is usually enough for there to be some sort of improvement in attendance. But, there are a handful of families who have had ongoing issues for years pre and post covid, or who hop between neighboring districts to avoid getting in trouble (they're surprised to still see me!) because the parents simply don't prioritize their children's education despite being offered help and those are the most frustrating instances.

[jeaniebueller]

@starlily, I am sending you a PM.

[arehopsveggies]

Close to half of my students had 15+ absences just in the last quarter. So basically 3 out of 9 weeks missing?
Lots of germs ran through my class in February.

And yes, I did let my own child miss two days to ski with his grandparents before the ski hill closed for the year.

Several of my students missed for a week vacation, but then got hit with illness after. It’s easy to think that first week out didn’t matter so much, but if multiple illnesses happened after that, it’s a lot of missed school. Few of my students touch a book if they aren’t in class. And of course, it’s my lowest students that have missed the most.

[Deleted]

Education in our country needs so much help. But so many people want to see public education die, and refuse to properly fund schools or pay teachers, so here we are. When we lose to China, this will be why.

We try not to pull C (4th grade) out of school unless he’s sick or it’s a major family event (funeral, graduation, wedding, etc). Partially because it’s so hard for my H to miss school days as a teacher because he doesn’t get much PTO and his district has very few substitutes (because they’re paid like crap). He routinely has 5th graders who get pulled out for 2-4 weeks at a time to go to Australia, Iceland, Canada to ski to name a few from this year. Some of them make up work, and some don’t. We mostly travel during spring break (which is now!), summer, and winter break.

[wanderingback]

I think on an individual level if a kid is ahead and doing well then missing school for things like "other experiences" isn’t a huge deal. But I’m in favor of home schooling models/alternate learning although I’m 99.9% sure my kid will go to a regular public school cause I don’t have the time or patient or desire to home school or do one of those school co-ops.

However, on a systematic level I think missing school is a problem as it disrupts the teacher and the other students. So I think out of respect for the school system in general pulling your kids for vacations or extracurriculars regularly isn’t something that should be done and I won’t plan to do that for my kid.

[meganew]

@starlily I feel like I have had so many more basic parenting conferences this year than ever, ever before. iPads and YouTube are going to make me quit teaching before I have a breakdown.

[aprilsails]

Ugh this topic is so tough.

I have two cousins with kids with varying mental and physical health disorders and this year has been a disaster for both of them. One of the boys had double hip surgery in March and is on complete bedrest for 8 weeks and the school is refusing to send material home. He's in grade 5. I think it's unconscionable at this point that the school is not supporting him in some way. Nevertheless, his marks are atrocious and his attendance was poor even before the surgery and while he might need to be held back a year, the problem is that he has a growth defect and is already 200+lbs and 5'11" at 11 years old. Holding him back would keep him with small kids. His single mom is a PSW who has to go to work and the grandmother that helps out is a pushover, so she won't make him go to school if he feels bad. Which happens often because his body is tearing itself apart.

I also have two co-workers with teens who are struggling with bullying and mental health issues and their kids have basically dropped out of school now for the year. One has transitioned to 100% virtual but is too young to be home alone all day, and the second isn't being given the option since it's too late in the year. My coworker is trying to see if they can transition to homeschool since the school refusal is brutal.

I did pull DD (3rd grade) for one day last week to go to the World's Figure Skating Championships. Otherwise my kids have only missed when sick this year. We do tend to err on the side of keeping them home since Covid. It's easier with WFH and I just want them to get better faster.

I also see the other side of all of this because I missed 1-3 months of school each year from grades 11 through 13. I was sailing. I had high marks and worked ahead or caught up when I got back. For whatever reason, this was completely acceptable to my school at the time and I never was rejected for any of my requests. I'm sure I drove my teachers insane, but I rarely attended in June and September and a couple times missed May as well as various weeks off or long weekends to work the ship. Otherwise I maintained a 95+ average and was given broad latitude at the school. Sailing also involved intensive studying and exams that I completed by the end of high school to obtain professional Canadian seafaring licences which I have never used since!

[shauni27]

Mar 29, 2024 16:00:23 GMT -5 dontlook said:

Mar 29, 2024 15:22:51 GMT -5 bee20 said:

What surprises me about the article comments here and on the NYT is how many parents are absolutely fine with it and non-defensively explaining that school isn't working anymore.

In my upper middle class neighborhood SO many of my neighbors have pulled their kids out of school varies weeks in March for spring break trips (our spring break was this week). So many families just don’t care and boggles my mind. I can’t imagine having my kids miss a week of school past 4th grade just because. The amount of stuff they would miss wouldn’t be worth it. Traveling during spring break is expensive so we save and can only go every other year. I don’t understand the blasé attitude about missing school.

I feel similarly; we pulled S from school this year so far 4 days, for a trip to Ireland. He will be missing Friday this week as well, for a trip again. He is in 1st grade, and while he is struggling a little bit with school, missing 5 days throughout the year is not what is causing his learning delays. However, there will be a point that pulling him for things like travel ARE going to put him behind, so I know that this is not something we will be able to do forever.

I still remember sophomore year in HS going to Hawaii for a week and coming back I was SO BEHIND in French that I never could catch back up. After that I told my parents I could not miss school anymore.

[StrawberryBlondie]

aprilsails I am SO jealous you went to Worlds this year. Not trying to derail the thread but OMG so jealous. 😊

[erbear]

Mar 31, 2024 21:43:45 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

Ugh this topic is so tough.

I have two cousins with kids with varying mental and physical health disorders and this year has been a disaster for both of them. One of the boys had double hip surgery in March and is on complete bedrest for 8 weeks and the school is refusing to send material home. He's in grade 5. I think it's unconscionable at this point that the school is not supporting him in some way. 

How can this be possible? What is their reasoning? That is exactly the reason homebound education exists.

[aprilsails]

Apr 1, 2024 8:58:46 GMT -5 erbear said:

Mar 31, 2024 21:43:45 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

Ugh this topic is so tough.

I have two cousins with kids with varying mental and physical health disorders and this year has been a disaster for both of them. One of the boys had double hip surgery in March and is on complete bedrest for 8 weeks and the school is refusing to send material home. He's in grade 5. I think it's unconscionable at this point that the school is not supporting him in some way. 

How can this be possible? What is their reasoning? That is exactly the reason homebound education exists.

To be honest he might not have been able to do work for the first month. He's been on adult doses of pain killers and is completely immobile. Prior to the surgery he was also out of school for the better part of three weeks since he was in so much pain. Poor kid is a mess.

I would also say that the school he attends is in an area which does not prioritize education. Neither of his parents graduated high school and neither did most members of that side of my family. It's a bit problematic (rural farming community).

[sent]

Just wanted to say that having a parent work from home and having that influence the decision to keep your kid home is a huge privilege.

I feel this all the time because I picked a career that depends on hiring people to do physical procedures on patients. It is hard. WFH is not an option. It's hard to find employees post-COVID since people who would have previously considered our jobs would rather find a WFH job in a different position if possible. It is a lot of scrambling for all of us when one of our kids is sick. We all seem to be the spouse in all of our families that gets called for every paper cut. All of us lean hard on family to make school absences not be excessive and work absences not be a burden.

My days of pulling the kids for fun are nearly over. DD is already in middle school. She seems to miss a week of school annually to vague viral type of illnesses that the rest of us don't catch. I can't be pulling her to miss more for funsies.

[fortnightlily]

I ring the "year round school" bell as often as I can, but I do wonder if it would help, here. If we had year round school with more built-in breaks, perhaps that would give families more flexible options to do their traveling during non-school time but ALSO allow schools to build in more time for catch-up for students who are behind for any reason.

[starlily]

Apr 1, 2024 8:12:41 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

aprilsails I am SO jealous you went to Worlds this year. Not trying to derail the thread but OMG so jealous. 😊

I was there for the entirety of Worlds too! But my husband and kids didn't join me in Montreal until their spring break started lol

[StrawberryBlondie]

Apr 1, 2024 11:57:55 GMT -5 starlily said:

Apr 1, 2024 8:12:41 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

aprilsails I am SO jealous you went to Worlds this year. Not trying to derail the thread but OMG so jealous. 😊

I was there for the entirety of Worlds too! But my husband and kids didn't join me in Montreal until their spring break started lol

Also jealous.

[starlily]

Re: pulling kids for vacations -- a lot of schools in my area offer short term independent study for up to 2-3 weeks per school year for those types of situations. It requires advance approval from admin and usually consists of a take home work packet and/or Google classroom assignments. Once the work is turned in, the otherwise unexcused absences are credited for attendance. It might be something to look into with your school if you're ever in that situation.

[icedcoffee]

I have no problem keeping my kids home if they're sick but I'm strongly team vacation should be during one of the 1,000 days off. My kid is super smart and could easily catch up, but teachers are already underpaid and underappreciated and I'm not going to make them go out of their way to catch my kid up. I'm always surprised when I see teachers who post that they support pulling kids for family vacations. In 12 years we will vacation again during cheap and less crowded times.

[fortnightlily]

Re: travel, we have a ton of immigrants in our area, so it's not just affluent families jetting off to Aspen when they feel like it, sometimes it's families pulling kids out for 2-3 weeks because they have to return to their country of origin for familial obligations that don't sync up nicely with when our school breaks are (even summer).

[sandandsea]

Mar 29, 2024 8:21:08 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

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.

DS has an out of school sport that causes him to miss 15-20 days a year traveling and competing across the nation. All of the work is made up and he works so hard to make it happen, but most kids in his sport have private tutors and don’t go to public schools to avoid the stress of having to make a “career” work with public schools. Private schools, online schools and tutors are an easier, but more expensive, alternative but I don’t think it’s particularly a great solution for kids with pro aspirations.

For example if a child is going to the Olympics, there are so many week long events and competitions leading up to that achievement that you have to miss a lot of school to make it to the Olympics. Does that mean all Olympic athletes should do online or private school? There has to be a path for these kids at public schools.

[Deleted]

Apr 1, 2024 13:00:48 GMT -5 sandandsea said:

Mar 29, 2024 8:21:08 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

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.

DS has an out of school sport that causes him to miss 15-20 days a year traveling and competing across the nation. All of the work is made up and he works so hard to make it happen, but most kids in his sport have private tutors and don’t go to public schools to avoid the stress of having to make a “career” work with public schools. Private schools, online schools and tutors are an easier, but more expensive, alternative but I don’t think it’s particularly a great solution for kids with pro aspirations.

For example if a child is going to the Olympics, there are so many week long events and competitions leading up to that achievement that you have to miss a lot of school to make it to the Olympics. Does that mean all Olympic athletes should do online or private school? There has to be a path for these kids at public schools.

One of my former colleagues has a 4th grade daughter who is moving into advanced levels of gymnastics that require about 4 hours of practice most days, and lots of meets that start on Fridays and require travel. She just pulled her daughter out of traditional school and enrolled her in public online school so she can fit it in around practices. The downside is that she’s still young enough that a parents needs to be home with her because she’s too young to stay at home by herself, so the parents still have wonky work schedules. It seems like a really good option!

[StrawberryBlondie]

Apr 1, 2024 13:26:26 GMT -5 @villainv said:

Apr 1, 2024 13:00:48 GMT -5 sandandsea said:

DS has an out of school sport that causes him to miss 15-20 days a year traveling and competing across the nation. All of the work is made up and he works so hard to make it happen, but most kids in his sport have private tutors and don’t go to public schools to avoid the stress of having to make a “career” work with public schools. Private schools, online schools and tutors are an easier, but more expensive, alternative but I don’t think it’s particularly a great solution for kids with pro aspirations.

For example if a child is going to the Olympics, there are so many week long events and competitions leading up to that achievement that you have to miss a lot of school to make it to the Olympics. Does that mean all Olympic athletes should do online or private school? There has to be a path for these kids at public schools.

One of my former colleagues has a 4th grade daughter who is moving into advanced levels of gymnastics that require about 4 hours of practice most days, and lots of meets that start on Fridays and require travel. She just pulled her daughter out of traditional school and enrolled her in public online school so she can fit it in around practices. The downside is that she’s still young enough that a parents needs to be home with her because she’s too young to stay at home by herself, so the parents still have wonky work schedules. It seems like a really good option!

My district has an elite-level curler and she was featured recently in a school newsletter about how great our virtual option is for accommodating her training and competition schedule. I can see it... I missed a lot of school as a kid in high school almost entirely for school-related things like band or choir competitions and a virtual option like we have now would've been fantastic for me.

[mccallister84]

Apr 1, 2024 13:00:48 GMT -5 sandandsea said:

Mar 29, 2024 8:21:08 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

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.

DS has an out of school sport that causes him to miss 15-20 days a year traveling and competing across the nation. All of the work is made up and he works so hard to make it happen, but most kids in his sport have private tutors and don’t go to public schools to avoid the stress of having to make a “career” work with public schools. Private schools, online schools and tutors are an easier, but more expensive, alternative but I don’t think it’s particularly a great solution for kids with pro aspirations.

For example if a child is going to the Olympics, there are so many week long events and competitions leading up to that achievement that you have to miss a lot of school to make it to the Olympics. Does that mean all Olympic athletes should do online or private school? There has to be a path for these kids at public schools.

I strongly disagree that there has to be a path for these kids at public schools. Clearly there are situations where schools should (and hopefully do!) work with children who have excessive absences due it illnesses, but it’s bananas to me to expect schools to provide individual instruction at that level for everyone who chooses to put something else above public education.

[Jalapeñomel]

There should be a viable virtual option for public high schools, but it’s expensive for most places to do it correctly and most districts are already spread thin.

[Deleted]

Apr 1, 2024 13:39:31 GMT -5 mccallister84 said:

Apr 1, 2024 13:00:48 GMT -5 sandandsea said:

DS has an out of school sport that causes him to miss 15-20 days a year traveling and competing across the nation. All of the work is made up and he works so hard to make it happen, but most kids in his sport have private tutors and don’t go to public schools to avoid the stress of having to make a “career” work with public schools. Private schools, online schools and tutors are an easier, but more expensive, alternative but I don’t think it’s particularly a great solution for kids with pro aspirations.

For example if a child is going to the Olympics, there are so many week long events and competitions leading up to that achievement that you have to miss a lot of school to make it to the Olympics. Does that mean all Olympic athletes should do online or private school? There has to be a path for these kids at public schools.

I strongly disagree that there has to be a path for these kids at public schools. Clearly there are situations where schools should (and hopefully do!) work with children who have excessive absences due it illnesses, but it’s bananas to me to expect schools to provide individual instruction at that level for everyone who chooses to put something else above public education.

Many states already have a k12 virtual option. I don’t know how good it is, or how flexible it is for kids with complex medical needs, but it does exist in some places. In Florida for example, it’s done on the state level and not managed locally, so it doesn’t t add more work for teachers who are also teaching in person. Which also means it might lack a lot of personalization that comes with a teacher who you know. Public k12 online school was one of the many options for families who weren’t ready to send kids back to in-person school during COVID.

[sporklemotion]

My understanding is that the virtual options in my state are very difficult for kids on IEPs/504s. I am not sure what, if any, supports are available. Many kids who struggle to come in choose it thinking it will work for them but then come back because in person school offers a stronger support network.
They are a great option for some kids, but they are not the broad solution that some people had hoped for.

[sent]

Apr 1, 2024 12:29:19 GMT -5 fortnightlily said:

Re: travel, we have a ton of immigrants in our area, so it's not just affluent families jetting off to Aspen when they feel like it, sometimes it's families pulling kids out for 2-3 weeks because they have to return to their country of origin for familial obligations that don't sync up nicely with when our school breaks are (even summer).

I see a lot of children of immigrants too but in my area they all go to their home countries over the summer. They leave as soon as school ends and return as close to Labor Day as possible. They may just not be wealthy enough to take the whole family along for an aunt's wedding or grandma's funeral.