@ Chronic absenteeism in schools

[MDmomof2]

DH and I are older Gen Xers with Silent Generation parents who were very precious about school time - we missed school only when sick and we had to be very sick to miss school! We are slightly more lax with our kids - we took them out of school for 3 days when they were in elementary for a Disney vacation and are taking off Monday to see the eclipse. But...they are now 13 and 16 and I can only count those two times! Our family has a special event in November and we are trying to figure out a way to get there (across the country) without missing too much school - it just gets harder when the kids are in middle and high school.

[starlily]

To give you some concrete numbers: I had attendance meetings at two different school districts this week, met with 16 families, and the average number of absences per student in this group (so far this school year) is 56 full days. Several had a similar pattern the last year. One kid's cumulative absences over the current and past two school years added up to over a full year of missed school days.

[starlily]

Apr 3, 2024 16:32:08 GMT -5 JayhawkGirl said:

Do any of them share the reasoning behind all of their absences?

We always ask and try to probe respectfully. Today it was a lot of oversleeping (usually due to late night scrolling) and therefore missing non-walking transportation options, minor or treatable symptoms w/o underlying causes such as stomachaches, allergies, etc., anxiety both actually diagnosed and self-reported w/o medical documentation, parents "too busy" with their own stuff or other siblings, kids who "just don't feel like it" without any pushback from their parents, etc.

[bears]

Apr 1, 2024 10:50:28 GMT -5 fortnightlily said:

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.

Our district has both year round and traditional schedules at the elementary and middle school levels. I'd love to see how absence rates compare between the two.

However, families I know with multiple kids struggle with the schedule when their kids are in different schools, since vacation days don't line up.

[vamoose]

Apr 1, 2024 21:48:14 GMT -5 sent said:

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.

Our previous school had a lot of families from India and it was just too hot to visit over summer. Many of those families would go over winter break and take an extra week or two before or after the break.

[eport]

Apr 3, 2024 17:03:21 GMT -5 bears said:

Apr 1, 2024 10:50:28 GMT -5 fortnightlily said:

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.

Our district has both year round and traditional schedules at the elementary and middle school levels. I'd love to see how absence rates compare between the two.

However, families I know with multiple kids struggle with the schedule when their kids are in different schools, since vacation days don't line up.

A school district by me growing up had the year round school by only for elementary or as my aunt put it-as soon as you get kids old enough to help with siblings, they change it. It started as there was not enough space for a growing school district so different parts of the school were in a different times/cycles (meaning at any point in the year, 1 cycle is out of school and the others in school and a different classroom every time you come back). They attempted to put families/neighborhoods together but like half siblings could be on the same cycle together but then they are not on the same cycle as neighborhood friends. The district now has all kids on the same cycle year round.

Businesses around us have adapted, there are "cycle camps" that open for the 3 week breaks during the year, etc. My aunt loved taking off season vacations but that only worked when all three of my cousins were in elementary school, once the oldest hit 6th grade there were only a couple of weeks that overlapped school breaks that really limited vacation. The district also spoke of how it could not work for high school due to sports/speech/band competitions as they reflected the normal school year. And every year during the traditional summer, kids were pulled out for specialty camps/weekend swim meets/events planned for summer as it works for the rest of the family on a traditional school calendar, etc.

[sent]

Apr 3, 2024 18:27:16 GMT -5 vamoose said:

Apr 1, 2024 21:48:14 GMT -5 sent said:

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.

Our previous school had a lot of families from India and it was just too hot to visit over summer. Many of those families would go over winter break and take an extra week or two before or after the break.

Yup, I was that kid growing up. Went with my parents when I was in school once in 1986 and again in 1991, 6 weeks and 4 weeks. The teachers gave me assignments to do while over there and my books all got lugged with me. Of course, those were different times. 

Most of the families in my office going back home are going to Europe, Central America and South America. Not too many Southeast Asian families going back home over the summer probably because it's hot like you said.  

[fortnightlily]

Definitely agree that the year-round school would have to be consistent for all grades and schools in a given district/county to feel workable.

[sparkythelawyer]

I don't know if year-round is the option, but I just don't think the kids have enough actual school days. Every time I turn around my kiddo's school is closed for something - so many teacher's institute days, the day after Easter, veterans day, etc. I feel like it is so damned rare my kid has a whole week of school even scheduled. And now the school year is like, mid-August to Memorial Day! Early June sucks for doing anything summer-like in this region anyway, why not have the kids go to school? If the school is worried about attendance for learning sake, as opposed to how much state money they're going to get, have more danged school days!

Covid taught us all that a) stay home at minor things, so that they don't become major things and take the whole class out; and b) sometimes life dictates other needs.

[Jalapeñomel]

Apr 5, 2024 11:56:39 GMT -5 sparkythelawyer said:

I don't know if year-round is the option, but I just don't think the kids have enough actual school days. Every time I turn around my kiddo's school is closed for something - so many teacher's institute days, the day after Easter, veterans day, etc. I feel like it is so damned rare my kid has a whole week of school even scheduled. And now the school year is like, mid-August to Memorial Day! Early June sucks for doing anything summer-like in this region anyway, why not have the kids go to school? If the school is worried about attendance for learning sake, as opposed to how much state money they're going to get, have more danged school days!

Covid taught us all that a) stay home at minor things, so that they don't become major things and take the whole class out; and b) sometimes life dictates other needs.

Pretty sure the number of school days hasn't really changed much, just when they take holidays. 


www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/07/in-the-u-s-180-days-of-school-is-most-common-but-length-of-school-day-varies-by-state/

[ans1999]

As a school counselor, I see a lot of what the prosecutor sees as far as reasons for chronic absenteeism. I work in a large, multi-ethnic magnet school. We have affluent parents who could care less what the rules are, students who can’t make it to school if they miss the bus due to lack of transportation, and students returning to home countries. I have a problem with the students from low-income backgrounds ending up more penalized because their parents either don’t communicate or they aren’t faring as well academically. Why is ok to take a month trip but not stay home with your family? In both cases, you are missing instruction. I have some kids on my caseload ‘sick’ up to 20-30 days a year with no medical documentation. Often, it’s anxiety in either the child or parent that creates this dynamic. My teachers try so hard but getting kids caught up day after day is really difficult.

[sent]

So an issue here with year round would be that we don’t have air conditioning in the buildings. They call half days periodically because of the heat to get in the minimum hours required and get everyone out of the buildings asap. Our town voted yes to upgrading the buildings and that will include air conditioning but I can see this not happening in other areas as quickly. I can foresee a vote to go year round being similar to all the other votes. Half will want it because it’s practical for working parents sick of piecing together fragmented summer childcare plans. And the other half will whine about “traditions” or the classic “my taxes should not have to pay for your childcare.”

[UMaineTeach]

Apr 5, 2024 11:56:39 GMT -5 sparkythelawyer said:

I don't know if year-round is the option, but I just don't think the kids have enough actual school days. Every time I turn around my kiddo's school is closed for something - so many teacher's institute days, the day after Easter, veterans day, etc. I feel like it is so damned rare my kid has a whole week of school even scheduled. And now the school year is like, mid-August to Memorial Day! Early June sucks for doing anything summer-like in this region anyway, why not have the kids go to school? If the school is worried about attendance for learning sake, as opposed to how much state money they're going to get, have more danged school days!

Covid taught us all that a) stay home at minor things, so that they don't become major things and take the whole class out; and b) sometimes life dictates other needs.

The holidays seem out of control. The only month we have without a holiday or vacation is March. Then, this year they decided to stick a teacher workshop day in March. After they promised parents if they put up with the absurd inconvenience of kids getting out an hour early each Wednesday for teacher PD they would eliminate school year workshop days.

I want the Wednesday thing gone so bad. It’s annoying for parents and is almost always completely useless for teachers. The regular staff meeting we used to have would be sufficient.

[nsl]

UMaineTeach , I agree about the early outs every week, especially in elementary. As an educator I find those weekly days minimally helpful, and as a parent I scramble regularly to figure out how to get my 16 year old (who doesn't drive yet) home every other Wednesday when I still have to be at work for another 90 minutes after they're released. Every single family I know at my 13 year old's middle school has to pay for some kind of aftercare because school lets out at 12:45 every Friday and unless you work from home and/or have a SAH parent or a very flexible schedule that's just not a time people can pick kids up from school on a weekly basis.

Going back to the heart of the chronic absentee problem, though, I hope that you all are paying attention to what ans1999 , starlily , and other education professionals in this thread who are on the ground trying to address this problem every day have to say. The problem is not primarily with kids who stay home a couple of extra days when they have cold/flu symptoms. The problem is not primarily with families who take rare vacations in the middle of a term. The problem is with kids who are slipping through the cracks due to family distress related to childcare or mental health issues (many unaddressed--those of you with kids who are school refusers are clearly getting whatever help you can to address this problem, but imagine how many families out there can't or won't do the same), or whose parents aren't wanting to fight the fight and because teeth have been taken out of truancy laws there's nothing schools can do to force them to help their kids get the education we all know they need to be successful in the long term sense.

The other piece to this puzzle is that the Republican party has been dragging public education every chance it's gotten for the last 5+ years, and that message is resonating with a lot of parents. I've been in secondary education for 18 years now. At no point have I seen so many seniors drop out in second semester because they've lost so many credits (due to absences parents know about and in many cases are calling to excuse!) and have no realistic chance of graduating on time. These include significant numbers of kids who aren't coming from serious poverty, and whose parents don't need them to tend their younger siblings either. These are kids who've just skipped too many classes, and who will volunteer that they weren't at school for multiple days because they didn't want to get out of bed in the morning. Phones and screens are probably part of the issue, as is an expectation that everything kids need is going to be online, but so is a lack of respect for the system as a whole. Public education is getting systematically devalued by a growing portion of Americans, and we can't solve chronic absenteeism without addressing that fact as well.

[orval]

Mar 29, 2024 19:57:09 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

IDK maybe I'm part of the problem here but our school district's calendar makes it really hard to take any vacation during the school year aside from spring break. Technically winter break is longer than a week but we always go back Jan 2 so a one-week trip would require either being gone over Christmas or travelling on Christmas, so that complicates things.

So I'm not personally going to sweat it if my kid misses Monday & Tuesday of a week they have Wed-Friday off, or if leaving the Friday before spring break is significantly cheaper than waiting till Saturday or Sunday.

I know school is important so this really isn't about me. My kid typically misses less than 5 days/year. But I think if you're trying to encourage things like not pulling kids out of school for a trip, you need to give them more than the 2 most expensive travel times of the year to do so.

This attitude makes me crazy.  It makes it very hard on teachers and the kids that actually do attend school.  My ds has had several instances where the day before vacation starts  only 6-8 kids show up in his classes.  So the teachers don't do anything.  It sucks.  I don't blame the teachers.  He did have one teacher that gave extra credit to the students that were there.  I think that is a good idea so it doesn't penalize kids, but provides an incentive to show up.