HOPE Community Truancy

[Anonymous]

I just don't understand? These are Prek3-6 graders (lamond). There are only a small number of 3-6th graders at the school. Are parents not bringing their kids to school? Are the kids that are bused from SE missing the bus?

[Anonymous]

Is this Imagine Hope PCS? What is the truancy rate? (And which campus?)

[Anonymous]

No, HOPE Community. There is a Lamond campus in Takoma and a Brookland campus. Imagine SE is a separate school-like a sister school to HOPE

Dr. Rob Mayo, PCSB school performance officer, presented the report on attendance and Truancy policy report. Schools must attain an attendance rate at or above 85% and a truancy rate at or below 20% on a quarterly and annual basis.

According to the DCPCSB Academic Year ’09-’10 3rd Quarter attendance report the following schools fall below the required truancy threshold:

School Truancy (at/below 20% Required)
Center City - Congress Heights 31.09
Center City - Shaw 20.29
Community Academy - Rand 20.24
Hope Community - Lamond 23.26
Hospitality 31.32

[Anonymous]

those are pretty ugly truancy rates! Sad to see two Center Cities on there -- I had thought they might be underappreciated gems.

[Anonymous]

They might be. Elementary school children often miss school because of their parents. In effect, we are judging and possibly penalizing schools that provide education to the neediest children. We do the same to DCPS schools that serve large numbers of low-SES families. We blame the schools and the people who work in these schools for the behavior and attitudes of the children and parents that they serve. Does this make sense?

[Anonymous]

Makes sense, but are these schools serving students that have fewer advantages than others with lower truancy rates?

[Anonymous]

I was at that Charter School Board Meeting because my oldest child's school asked to raise the amount of children they can admit each year and the 2 Center City schools were on the truancy list for system errors that reported incorrect numbers. I heard the Center City truancy "notice of concern" was lifted after that meeting, but the other schools had to talk about plans to fix their truancy problems. That was a LONG meeting! I'm thinking of sending my youngest child to a Center City school next year when he turns 4 and was glad to hear it was just a computer error! My child's school is just getting too large and I think a Center City school would be a better way of my child getting a smaller class environment - and that seems really hard to find in DC right now!

[Anonymous]

Greetings from the Center City PCS Congress Heights Campus. Many of you know me, Marlen Giles, as the recent leader of West Education Campus- I am pleased to let you all know that I am the New Principal at Congress Heights! We were able to do great things at West and I believe that we will replicate that same success here at Congress Heights. This year, we have a plan in place to improve our school and to follow in our mission of character, excellence, and service. This improvement includes targeted interventions and a focus on data that WILL result in an increase in test scores, enrollment, attendance, and school culture and climate- all in an effort to make learning fun and engaging for our students.
Please feel free to watch as we grow into an exemplary school! As always, you are welcome to be a part of our school community. I am excited about this journey! The best is yet to come!

[Anonymous]

The Charter School performance reports for the school year 2008-2009 which were released this past March show the following truancy data for the Center City Public Charter schools: The Brentwood campus had a truancy rate of 31%, Brightwood 28%,Capitol Hill 29%, Shaw 32% Trinadad 30% and Congress Heights 50%. No, I'm not kidding about that Congress Heights number. These schools are not under appreciated gems at all. They never should have been granted charters in the first place!