Chronic Absenteeism

[Anonymous]

Across the US right now there is an epidemic of chronic absenteeism. Why now? What happened to make it so much worse now? Do the parents not know? Are the parents keeping their kids home or not driving them to school?

[Anonymous]

Ask the parents who do it. They need to hold parents accountable. Simple.

[Anonymous]

It was pretty bad before the pandemic but now it’s much worse. Why? Lots of reasons but as for elementary school kids, it’s the parents.

[Anonymous]

At least in my neck of the woods, we said for 1.5 years that going to school (as in physically going to a building) wasn't necessary, so it's unsurprising that people took that to heart.

[Anonymous]

My kids have each missed 30 days of school so far, all because of sickness. Pediatrician said it’s to be expected, because kids who had to stay at home during Covid because schools were closed lost immunity and now they have to rebuild it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At least in my neck of the woods, we said for 1.5 years that going to school (as in physically going to a building) wasn't necessary, so it's unsurprising that people took that to heart.

I agree that this is part of it, plus sickness, whether kids are sick more often or there is more awareness about keeping sick kids home. Regardless, the messaging addressing both issues simultaneously minimized the importance of in-person education and emphasized the need to keep sick kids home. Is it any wonder that people internalized those messages?

[Anonymous]

Seems unlikely to be driven by illness as chronic absenteeism is strongly correlated with school SES backdrop. Parents got used to keeping their kids home during covid (and potentially found it more convenient/advantageous from a family perspective to do so) and are continuing that now. Younger kids can babysit siblings, older kids can work and contribute to the family financially.

[Anonymous]

This is happening at our suburban public school.

There are no repercussions to missing school. That’s why it happens. Administrators became extremely understanding during Covid, and they have not gone back to enforcement. At our school, the threat of doing poorly in a class is the only motivator.

You give a kid an inch, they take a mile!

[Anonymous]

PP is correct. There are no consequences so why bother coming in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At least in my neck of the woods, we said for 1.5 years that going to school (as in physically going to a building) wasn't necessary, so it's unsurprising that people took that to heart.

I do think this is part of it where I am too (in DC). For a long time families were told that not only did their kids not need to go to school, but actually it was dangerous. Some of those families simply stopped prioritizing school at all, others became so paranoid about the risk of catching something at school that they keep kids home out of paranoia, some just feel out of the habit. These were families where attendance was likely already spotty and kids weren't well supported anyway, but now it's worse.

We also know a few families where the parents were borderline before but have developed major drug issues or one of the parents simply disappeared during the pandemic. One of my kids has a classmate in this situation. She misses huge swaths of school. Her father is MIA and when I see her mom, she looks high and out of it. Things weren't great for this family before, but they are worse now. I can't imagine that a year plus of virtual school (this child didn't attend any virtual school) helped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least in my neck of the woods, we said for 1.5 years that going to school (as in physically going to a building) wasn't necessary, so it's unsurprising that people took that to heart.

I agree that this is part of it, plus sickness, whether kids are sick more often or there is more awareness about keeping sick kids home. Regardless, the messaging addressing both issues simultaneously minimized the importance of in-person education and emphasized the need to keep sick kids home. Is it any wonder that people internalized those messages?

The thing about keeping sick kids home for longer is an issue. People are now keeping a kid with a cold home for two weeks until every last sniffle is gone. You can't do that and have anything resembling a normal school year. And it's especially damaging because it's younger kids who tend to circulate these cold viruses more often -- there are kids in K and 1st who have cold symptoms for most of the year because they are still in the phase of just catching everything and building immunity. As they get older, they won't get so many colds.

But K and 1st are critical years for literacy. Missing two weeks of K to an illness might be the difference between finishing the year with basic reading skills or not. It's a big deal.

But I don't know if this is even counting toward the chronic absentee numbers, since the absences for illness are excused in our district (I do think you need a doctors note after three consecutive days out, but it's not hard to get a doctors note saying a kid has still has a cold or an ear infection or something). So this might actually be a problem on top of chronic absenteeism with unexcused absences, where parents are just keeping kids home for no reason. Which is frightening.

[Anonymous]

Kids are being sent to school sick and spreading it.

Kids always had to go to school, even virtual. If you did not participate in virtual that is on you as a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At least in my neck of the woods, we said for 1.5 years that going to school (as in physically going to a building) wasn't necessary, so it's unsurprising that people took that to heart.

I agree that this is part of it, plus sickness, whether kids are sick more often or there is more awareness about keeping sick kids home. Regardless, the messaging addressing both issues simultaneously minimized the importance of in-person education and emphasized the need to keep sick kids home. Is it any wonder that people internalized those messages?

The thing about keeping sick kids home for longer is an issue. People are now keeping a kid with a cold home for two weeks until every last sniffle is gone. You can't do that and have anything resembling a normal school year. And it's especially damaging because it's younger kids who tend to circulate these cold viruses more often -- there are kids in K and 1st who have cold symptoms for most of the year because they are still in the phase of just catching everything and building immunity. As they get older, they won't get so many colds.

But K and 1st are critical years for literacy. Missing two weeks of K to an illness might be the difference between finishing the year with basic reading skills or not. It's a big deal.

But I don't know if this is even counting toward the chronic absentee numbers, since the absences for illness are excused in our district (I do think you need a doctors note after three consecutive days out, but it's not hard to get a doctors note saying a kid has still has a cold or an ear infection or something). So this might actually be a problem on top of chronic absenteeism with unexcused absences, where parents are just keeping kids home for no reason. Which is frightening.

Parents should be working with their children at home. Two weeks is no big deal and not going to hurt anything.

[Anonymous]

My DH is a teacher and had a couple kids out for weeks at a time. He was concerned and called their home. The parents were angry and called the principal. He was reprimanded for making the call and was told they can’t call homes bc he may be doing it in an inequitable manner and singling kids out. There’s no winning.

[Anonymous]

I'm a HS teacher and I think at my level it is largely a result of

(1) no real consequences - I have had to get rid of real due dates and late penalties, and all of my work is posted online and students must be allowed to submit online [so really, why should they bother coming in?] and

(2) these kids were really, really traumatized during COVID. at a time in their lives when they should be going outside of their comfort zone and socializing, they were stuck at home for a year. the anxiety of these kids is through the ROOF. I don't randomly call on students anymore or require class presentations, and a majority of my students choose to email me with questions rather than ask me in person.

through point #1, we've set up high school to allow students to get through it at their comfort level, which means many don't come in (and still get good grades). combine that with the increased anxiety, it's a perfect storm for the huge absence problems we're seeing.