Roughly 25% of MCPS students are chronically absent, and absenteeism response plan delayed

[Anonymous]

SOURCE: https://moco360.media/2023/06/13/nearly-25-of-mcps-students-considered-chronically-absent/

Nearly a quarter of all Montgomery County Public School students are currently considered “chronically absent,” according to new data shared with MoCo360 this month. A comprehensive action plan to address absenteeism was mentioned publicly in March and is expected to be released before the start of next school year.

Student truancy continues to be a high concern for officials and parents alike as the school district grapples with post-pandemic learning loss and mental health exacerbations.

“Truancy is one of our biggest topics of conversation as teachers right now,” White Oak Middle School teacher Jess Porrovicchio said. On June 8, she said five students were missing from her classroom. “That’s 20% of my class, and I don’t know why they weren’t here.”

The new plan will “tighten up” school policy to ensure chronically absent students receive appropriate discipline, according to MCPS spokesperson Jessica Baxter. Current policy states in the event of an unexcused absence, the school counselor will meet with the student and their caregivers, verify the reason for the absence and “determine appropriate interventions.”

“Kids are smart. They’ll work the system. If they know they can skip class and still pass, and there’s no disincentive—I mean, it’s going to happen,” Porrovicchio said.

MCPS spokesperson Aisha Mbowe told MoCo360 in June that nearly 25% of all MCPS students are considered “chronically absent,” meaning they missed 10% or more of all enrolled school days in the year. The national average is around 33%, Mbowe said. She did not provide the state average./QUOTE]

I think it's abysmal that MCPS does not understand, at this stage, some of the root causes for this chronic absenteeism and that they haven't rolled out this absenteeism plan after it was announced in March.

This is why people are disgusted and fed up with MCPS. Slow to act, no action, and always behind the curve.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, my commentary was supposed to be outside of the QUOTE:

I think it's abysmal that MCPS does not understand, at this stage, some of the root causes for this chronic absenteeism and that they haven't rolled out this absenteeism plan after it was announced in March.

This is why people are disgusted and fed up with MCPS. Slow to act, no action, and always behind the curve.

[Anonymous]

ITA. Kids will work the system to do the bare minimum, and then MCPS responds by lowering the threshold even more because even the low threshold isn't enough to close the achievement gap. It becomes a downward spiral and a race to the bottom.

[Anonymous]

I have bones to pick with MCPS, but absenteism is not it. It's very hard to get students into school who do not want to be there, because if you enforce punitive measures, all it does is push them further away, and you're left with dropouts who hold up stores in broad daylight and deal drugs.

However, MCPS and all other schools in the nation should put pressure on state legislatures to force them to discipline students who are violent, verbally and physically (with special plans for those with disabilities). Regular students cannot learn in disruptive environments, and teachers an staff currently have no power to punish students for assaulting them, or other students.

Likewise, MCPS has had sexual and other assaults in many of its schools, even elementary schools, and it has been demonstrated that in certain instances it did not comply with standards of reporting to police. I am thinking about the Damascus rape case specifically, but I'm sure there are others.

If your child reports an assault at school, call 911 immediately. Do not wait for the school to cover it up.

[Anonymous]

I get that this is an issue, but not the highest priority for the district. I agree with a poster above that if you crack down on this you would just get more dropouts. Honestly, kids who don’t want to be in class are better off not being there. We have enough disruptive students already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have bones to pick with MCPS, but absenteism is not it. It's very hard to get students into school who do not want to be there, because if you enforce punitive measures, all it does is push them further away, and you're left with dropouts who hold up stores in broad daylight and deal drugs.

However, MCPS and all other schools in the nation should put pressure on state legislatures to force them to discipline students who are violent, verbally and physically (with special plans for those with disabilities). Regular students cannot learn in disruptive environments, and teachers an staff currently have no power to punish students for assaulting them, or other students.

Likewise, MCPS has had sexual and other assaults in many of its schools, even elementary schools, and it has been demonstrated that in certain instances it did not comply with standards of reporting to police. I am thinking about the Damascus rape case specifically, but I'm sure there are others.

If your child reports an assault at school, call 911 immediately. Do not wait for the school to cover it up.

I disagree. Absenteeism plays a role in a lot of the disfunction going on in schools right now.

When teens are allowed to be absent and roaming the streets, that's how they are enabled to commit crimes and link up with bad influences and associates like drug dealers or gang members.

Furthermore, there's no hope in closing the achievement gap if you can't get the kids to show up to be exposed to or engage with the content.

Not to mention state law obliges MCPS to do everything it can to ensure those 18 and under are in school, as dictated by the letter of the law.

I 100% agree that disruptive kids should not be in the same learning environment as those who want to learn, but the answer isn't to ignore those who are intentionally skipping school. The answer to me is that we need to reinstate the alternative schools for those with behavioral problems, which still compels them to be in some sort of school environment, but doesn't allow them to disrupt things.

Law enforcement is there to provide structure and accountability when citizens get out of line. We shouldn't shy away from that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have bones to pick with MCPS, but absenteism is not it. It's very hard to get students into school who do not want to be there, because if you enforce punitive measures, all it does is push them further away, and you're left with dropouts who hold up stores in broad daylight and deal drugs.

However, MCPS and all other schools in the nation should put pressure on state legislatures to force them to discipline students who are violent, verbally and physically (with special plans for those with disabilities). Regular students cannot learn in disruptive environments, and teachers an staff currently have no power to punish students for assaulting them, or other students.

Likewise, MCPS has had sexual and other assaults in many of its schools, even elementary schools, and it has been demonstrated that in certain instances it did not comply with standards of reporting to police. I am thinking about the Damascus rape case specifically, but I'm sure there are others.

If your child reports an assault at school, call 911 immediately. Do not wait for the school to cover it up.

I disagree. Absenteeism plays a role in a lot of the disfunction going on in schools right now.

When teens are allowed to be absent and roaming the streets, that's how they are enabled to commit crimes and link up with bad influences and associates like drug dealers or gang members.

Furthermore, there's no hope in closing the achievement gap if you can't get the kids to show up to be exposed to or engage with the content.

Not to mention state law obliges MCPS to do everything it can to ensure those 18 and under are in school, as dictated by the letter of the law.

I 100% agree that disruptive kids should not be in the same learning environment as those who want to learn, but the answer isn't to ignore those who are intentionally skipping school. The answer to me is that we need to reinstate the alternative schools for those with behavioral problems, which still compels them to be in some sort of school environment, but doesn't allow them to disrupt things.

Law enforcement is there to provide structure and accountability when citizens get out of line. We shouldn't shy away from that.

I mean, you can lead a horse to water… But if they are skipping school and their parents know full well what they’re doing then you can’t make them learn. It’s time to realize that not everyone is going to college (or even necessarily graduating high school).

[Anonymous]

This issue is a huge part of the gaps in education weaning student groups. A student usually doesn’t learn well unless they are in school. The worst are the parents that go on vacation for a month in a home country in mid fall and late winter when plane tickets are cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get that this is an issue, but not the highest priority for the district. I agree with a poster above that if you crack down on this you would just get more dropouts. Honestly, kids who don’t want to be in class are better off not being there. We have enough disruptive students already.

Would love to see some data. Intuitively I’d think if there are consequences to skipping school fewer students would miss school. For every dropout, x amount of students would stay.

Regardless, 25 percent is a tragedy. That’s some horrible parenting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that this is an issue, but not the highest priority for the district. I agree with a poster above that if you crack down on this you would just get more dropouts. Honestly, kids who don’t want to be in class are better off not being there. We have enough disruptive students already.

Would love to see some data. Intuitively I’d think if there are consequences to skipping school fewer students would miss school. For every dropout, x amount of students would stay.

Regardless, 25 percent is a tragedy. That’s some horrible parenting

On the other hand, MCPS's 25 percent is better than the national average, which is 33 percent. So hey, there's that....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have bones to pick with MCPS, but absenteism is not it. It's very hard to get students into school who do not want to be there, because if you enforce punitive measures, all it does is push them further away, and you're left with dropouts who hold up stores in broad daylight and deal drugs.

However, MCPS and all other schools in the nation should put pressure on state legislatures to force them to discipline students who are violent, verbally and physically (with special plans for those with disabilities). Regular students cannot learn in disruptive environments, and teachers an staff currently have no power to punish students for assaulting them, or other students.

Likewise, MCPS has had sexual and other assaults in many of its schools, even elementary schools, and it has been demonstrated that in certain instances it did not comply with standards of reporting to police. I am thinking about the Damascus rape case specifically, but I'm sure there are others.

If your child reports an assault at school, call 911 immediately. Do not wait for the school to cover it up.

I disagree. Absenteeism plays a role in a lot of the disfunction going on in schools right now.

When teens are allowed to be absent and roaming the streets, that's how they are enabled to commit crimes and link up with bad influences and associates like drug dealers or gang members.

Furthermore, there's no hope in closing the achievement gap if you can't get the kids to show up to be exposed to or engage with the content.

Not to mention state law obliges MCPS to do everything it can to ensure those 18 and under are in school, as dictated by the letter of the law.

I 100% agree that disruptive kids should not be in the same learning environment as those who want to learn, but the answer isn't to ignore those who are intentionally skipping school. The answer to me is that we need to reinstate the alternative schools for those with behavioral problems, which still compels them to be in some sort of school environment, but doesn't allow them to disrupt things.

Law enforcement is there to provide structure and accountability when citizens get out of line. We shouldn't shy away from that.

I mean, you can lead a horse to water… But if they are skipping school and their parents know full well what they’re doing then you can’t make them learn. It’s time to realize that not everyone is going to college (or even necessarily graduating high school).

I don’t think we should be graduating kids that are truant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This issue is a huge part of the gaps in education weaning student groups. A student usually doesn’t learn well unless they are in school. The worst are the parents that go on vacation for a month in a home country in mid fall and late winter when plane tickets are cheap.

But this is exactly the problem. What is MCPS to do when this happens? Also, understand that the chronic absenteeism number has to be broken out because it doesn’t necessarily mean a student was absent all day. It also takes into account kids who are out for being sick. You only need 18days to be consider chronically absent.

[Anonymous]

Would love to see some more nuanced data on this. Are they saying 18 full days? What do the parents say when contacted? How many can't be reached, versus how many say they didn't know, versus how many say that there was a good reason, versus how many say that their kid is out of control and there's nothing they can do?

At a lot of schools, the attendance records aren't accurate because subs don't keep them correctly or teachers can't correct them for tardies. Also some parents don't bother to write notes when a kid is coming in late after an orthodontist appointment or similar appointment, because no one really cares about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have bones to pick with MCPS, but absenteism is not it. It's very hard to get students into school who do not want to be there, because if you enforce punitive measures, all it does is push them further away, and you're left with dropouts who hold up stores in broad daylight and deal drugs.

However, MCPS and all other schools in the nation should put pressure on state legislatures to force them to discipline students who are violent, verbally and physically (with special plans for those with disabilities). Regular students cannot learn in disruptive environments, and teachers an staff currently have no power to punish students for assaulting them, or other students.

Likewise, MCPS has had sexual and other assaults in many of its schools, even elementary schools, and it has been demonstrated that in certain instances it did not comply with standards of reporting to police. I am thinking about the Damascus rape case specifically, but I'm sure there are others.

If your child reports an assault at school, call 911 immediately. Do not wait for the school to cover it up.

I disagree. Absenteeism plays a role in a lot of the disfunction going on in schools right now.

When teens are allowed to be absent and roaming the streets, that's how they are enabled to commit crimes and link up with bad influences and associates like drug dealers or gang members.

Furthermore, there's no hope in closing the achievement gap if you can't get the kids to show up to be exposed to or engage with the content.

Not to mention state law obliges MCPS to do everything it can to ensure those 18 and under are in school, as dictated by the letter of the law.

I 100% agree that disruptive kids should not be in the same learning environment as those who want to learn, but the answer isn't to ignore those who are intentionally skipping school. The answer to me is that we need to reinstate the alternative schools for those with behavioral problems, which still compels them to be in some sort of school environment, but doesn't allow them to disrupt things.

Law enforcement is there to provide structure and accountability when citizens get out of line. We shouldn't shy away from that.

I mean, you can lead a horse to water… But if they are skipping school and their parents know full well what they’re doing then you can’t make them learn. It’s time to realize that not everyone is going to college (or even necessarily graduating high school).

I don’t think we should be graduating kids that are truant.

+1

HS Teacher here. At the root, we have lost what it means to earn a HS diploma. The state stopped enforcing truancy laws after a case where a petite mom asked a judge how exactly she was supposed to force her 6ft, 200 lb son to go to school. MCPS got rid of automatic failure due to too many unexcused absences (rightly so because some parents just wrote excuses while others wouldn’t). We have grading policies that are so generous that kids only need to turn in a couple of assignments to pass.

The state needs to redefine requirements to earn credit for a course to include a minimum amount of attendance (e.g. 90%), excused or not. For students with chronic absences (for whatever reason) offer an alternative “credit by examination” or just credit by completing an online course.

Also, part of the problem was the change in state law to require attendance until 18. Kids can’t drop out at 16 anymore. But what this did was put a huge burden on schools- teachers, counselors, and admin constantly chasing kids who don’t want to be in school. Being allowed to attend in-person school should be a privilege. If by age 16 a student can’t manage attending school regularly, then enroll them in an online program of study or an apprenticeship. The amount of resources devoted to truant students is staggering and is at a scale where it really is a detriment to the education of everyone else.

[Anonymous]

This must be a godsend at the overcrowded schools!