Chronic absenteeism and truancy in DC

[Anonymous]

In SY 22-23, 43% of K-12 DC public school students were chronically absent and 37% were truant (chronically absent means that the student missed 10% of more of the school year and truant means 10 or more unexcused absences). Significantly, 60% of DC public high school students were chronically absent.

The DC Council is considering a number of bills to deal with this problem. Among other things, the bills would variously require OSSE to publish monthly absenteeism data on its website, expand the set of valid excuses for absences, provide additional funding to address chronic absenteeism, and designate schools that reach a chronic absenteeism rate of 20%+ as priority zones for the Safe Passage Safe Blocks program.

Mayor Bowser has introduced a bill to require DHS to intervene before a truant student is referred to CFSA. The bill would also direct the AG to prosecute the parents of students who have accrued 25 or more absences.

https://lims.dccouncil.gov/hearings/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In SY 22-23, 43% of K-12 DC public school students were chronically absent and 37% were truant (chronically absent means that the student missed 10% of more of the school year and truant means 10 or more unexcused absences). Significantly, 60% of DC public high school students were chronically absent.

The DC Council is considering a number of bills to deal with this problem. Among other things, the bills would variously require OSSE to publish monthly absenteeism data on its website, expand the set of valid excuses for absences, provide additional funding to address chronic absenteeism, and designate schools that reach a chronic absenteeism rate of 20%+ as priority zones for the Safe Passage Safe Blocks program.

Mayor Bowser has introduced a bill to require DHS to intervene before a truant student is referred to CFSA. The bill would also direct the AG to prosecute the parents of students who have accrued 25 or more absences.

https://lims.dccouncil.gov/hearings/

Do they have data on the reason for truancy? I mean, Safe Passage sounds nice, but is safety a key cause, particularly at the high school level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In SY 22-23, 43% of K-12 DC public school students were chronically absent and 37% were truant (chronically absent means that the student missed 10% of more of the school year and truant means 10 or more unexcused absences). Significantly, 60% of DC public high school students were chronically absent.

The DC Council is considering a number of bills to deal with this problem. Among other things, the bills would variously require OSSE to publish monthly absenteeism data on its website, expand the set of valid excuses for absences, provide additional funding to address chronic absenteeism, and designate schools that reach a chronic absenteeism rate of 20%+ as priority zones for the Safe Passage Safe Blocks program.

Mayor Bowser has introduced a bill to require DHS to intervene before a truant student is referred to CFSA. The bill would also direct the AG to prosecute the parents of students who have accrued 25 or more absences.

https://lims.dccouncil.gov/hearings/

Do they have data on the reason for truancy? I mean, Safe Passage sounds nice, but is safety a key cause, particularly at the high school level?

NP. It wasn't when I was in the classroom. There's no consequences for not coming to school. They know we have to give them make-up work. They also know they're starting off with 50%. All they need to do is show up periodically and do a handful of assignments to pass.

[Anonymous]

Our middle schooler came close to being "truant" this year due to 1) miscounted "unexcused absences" which we were told would actually be excused tardies (but surprise! weren't!), and 2) absences that we reported and requested to be excused, but which DCPS would not excuse.

Is there a real problem with chronic truancy in DCPS? Sounds plausible, sure. But are innocuous data being misreported? 100%.

[Anonymous]

My kids were chronically absent last year but not truant -- all of their absences were excused sick days. My pediatrician said that many kids had excessive sick absences last year, as they had to rebuild immunity that was lost/never developed during covid. Point being, chronic absenteeism might fix itself; it's truancy that is the real problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In SY 22-23, 43% of K-12 DC public school students were chronically absent and 37% were truant (chronically absent means that the student missed 10% of more of the school year and truant means 10 or more unexcused absences). Significantly, 60% of DC public high school students were chronically absent.

The DC Council is considering a number of bills to deal with this problem. Among other things, the bills would variously require OSSE to publish monthly absenteeism data on its website, expand the set of valid excuses for absences, provide additional funding to address chronic absenteeism, and designate schools that reach a chronic absenteeism rate of 20%+ as priority zones for the Safe Passage Safe Blocks program.

Mayor Bowser has introduced a bill to require DHS to intervene before a truant student is referred to CFSA. The bill would also direct the AG to prosecute the parents of students who have accrued 25 or more absences.

https://lims.dccouncil.gov/hearings/

Do they have data on the reason for truancy? I mean, Safe Passage sounds nice, but is safety a key cause, particularly at the high school level?

NP. It wasn't when I was in the classroom. There's no consequences for not coming to school. They know we have to give them make-up work. They also know they're starting off with 50%. All they need to do is show up periodically and do a handful of assignments to pass.

+1

This is an issue at all SES levels too. I assume MC families have more of the absences excused but lots of kids miss lots of days of school.

[Anonymous]

PP again- I think making the grading policy more strict would cut down on some of the chronic absenteeism, especially at the high school level.

[Anonymous]

I'm a special ed lawyer representing poor kids, many of whom are chronically absent. A big problem I see is DCPS's failure to identify kids with learning disabilities when they are young/having way too much tolerance for kids not learning how to read. And then when they get to middle and high school, they are totally disengaged because they can't do the work/get the message that they are dumb. So they stop going to school regularly.

[Anonymous]

They should treat it differently depending on grade.

We are at a T1 elementary and chronic absences (and tardies) are a major issue. But at the elementary level it has little to anything to do with the kids. It's parents who don't prioritize it. And think about what it means for a parent to not prioritize getting their 3-10 year old to school for free childcare during working hours. You're talking about parents who aren't employed, generally. May have substance abuse issues or just be absentee generally (my kids have had classmates who relied on an extensive network of extended family, neighbors, and friends to get them to school because parents are simply not present). So at that level it's really about CPS and social interventions to address parental neglect and housing issues. It is not about the 7 yr old just not being sufficiently motivated to come to school.

I am not familiar enough with MS and HS to understand what is going on there but I'm guessing a combo of parental neglect AND motivational issues for kids (including potentially not feeling safe at school for a variety of reasons). At the HS level, providing supports and consequences directly to students makes more sense though.

Also, out if the box idea: based on experiences with chronically absent kids and their families I think DC has a teen pregnancy problem. So many kids having kids. This seems like a no brainer to me-- one of the best possible things you can do to improve outcomes both for women generally and for all kids is to reduce the rate of teen pregnancy. Teenagers are no prepared to raise children in the vast majority of cases and for women, having a child in your teens is one of the fastest ways to reduce your overall education and earnings potential.

[Anonymous]

What about school buses for ES kids? At least they’d have a reliable way to get to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about school buses for ES kids? At least they’d have a reliable way to get to school.

I assume you are sitting in your house in the suburbs with such a dumb suggestion. The majority of DCPS kids walk to school. Are you suggesting that absentee parents who can walk their kids to school on their own schedule are MORE likely to get their kids to a bus stop on time? Isn't there a Fairfax meeting you can go attend?

[Anonymous]

It’s pretty easy to end up with a kid who is chronically truant. My kid had two long respiratory viruses (covid and flu) that knocked out 7-8 days, then a few other colds, then marked absent for dr appt and therapist appointment. Some schools suspend liberally and mark that as absent as well. End result is my kid met the “chronically truant” status but only one of those days was discretionary (one day we tacked onto a vacation.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our middle schooler came close to being "truant" this year due to 1) miscounted "unexcused absences" which we were told would actually be excused tardies (but surprise! weren't!), and 2) absences that we reported and requested to be excused, but which DCPS would not excuse.

Is there a real problem with chronic truancy in DCPS? Sounds plausible, sure. But are innocuous data being misreported? 100%.

I had to write multiple letters to get my kids absences correctly marked excused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s pretty easy to end up with a kid who is chronically truant. My kid had two long respiratory viruses (covid and flu) that knocked out 7-8 days, then a few other colds, then marked absent for dr appt and therapist appointment. Some schools suspend liberally and mark that as absent as well. End result is my kid met the “chronically truant” status but only one of those days was discretionary (one day we tacked onto a vacation.)

Excused absences, which both illness and suspensions are, contribute to chronic absenteeism, but not truancy.

And schools should be following the law regarding suspension limits/the need to provide support, not liberally suspending (or, more commonly, sending home without following the suspension protocols).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s pretty easy to end up with a kid who is chronically truant. My kid had two long respiratory viruses (covid and flu) that knocked out 7-8 days, then a few other colds, then marked absent for dr appt and therapist appointment. Some schools suspend liberally and mark that as absent as well. End result is my kid met the “chronically truant” status but only one of those days was discretionary (one day we tacked onto a vacation.)

Excused absences, which both illness and suspensions are, contribute to chronic absenteeism, but not truancy.

And schools should be following the law regarding suspension limits/the need to provide support, not liberally suspending (or, more commonly, sending home without following the suspension protocols).

Well suspension is an important way to keep order.