Truancy In DC HS Is Shocking - Why No Urgency To Address?!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the other side of the coin, I’m getting tired of the repeated nasty grams DCPS is sending me for excused absences. My kid missed a week with a high fever. I’ve gotten emails, texts, letters, and voicemails reminding me how important it is to be in school. I’m expecting Hagrid to break into my cabin any minute.

The funny thing about this is lots of kids have the wrong phone number, no email, wrong address, etc. in the system. So most of those letters and texts go no where.

How is that possible? You have to register for DCPS every year. And, there are no pre-filled forms. Also, if you fill out an attendance form you have to put in your phone number and email.

Do you really not understand that many people who happen to have chronically absent or truant kids may not have addresses or phone numbers that are consistent for very long? May have no regular email or internet access? Or are bad at filling out paperwork? Or don't care enough to do so? There are lots of schools in DC where a huge part of the registrar's job will be trying to get at least some paperwork on the kids who show up for school, tracking down parents to fill out forms well after school has started because they certainly didn't submit it on time when asked the prior year. Do you think that registrar is verifying that the phone numbers and emails on every single submission packet are correct? They don't have the bandwidth for that. For many of these students, they are lucky to even get to a point of signed paperwork so that the kid can be legally enrolled.

So many of you are coming at this with only a UMC person's understanding of how school works. You have NO IDEA how this actually works in the parts of DC where poverty and homelessness are common and families have few resources.

Of course I understand that, but they're not able to competently handle it at JR, which was my earlier point. The admin has no idea who is at school or not at JR. Of course, that doesn't bode well for other schools. That's the point. But, I also contend that if the attendance officers aren't doing their job, then who's to say the registrars are either. Also, Pew reported that the vast majority of people have cell phones, including those with HHI under $30K.

Yes people have cell phones. Sometimes they change numbers. Sometimes the cell phone gets cutoff for a period of time. Sometimes kids are registered by grandma but move back in with their parent or another family member. Grandma gives her phone number, not the parent. And sometimes they give the wrong number on purpose. Why? Because they don’t want phone calls from the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the other side of the coin, I’m getting tired of the repeated nasty grams DCPS is sending me for excused absences. My kid missed a week with a high fever. I’ve gotten emails, texts, letters, and voicemails reminding me how important it is to be in school. I’m expecting Hagrid to break into my cabin any minute.

The funny thing about this is lots of kids have the wrong phone number, no email, wrong address, etc. in the system. So most of those letters and texts go no where.

How is that possible? You have to register for DCPS every year. And, there are no pre-filled forms. Also, if you fill out an attendance form you have to put in your phone number and email.

Do you really not understand that many people who happen to have chronically absent or truant kids may not have addresses or phone numbers that are consistent for very long? May have no regular email or internet access? Or are bad at filling out paperwork? Or don't care enough to do so? There are lots of schools in DC where a huge part of the registrar's job will be trying to get at least some paperwork on the kids who show up for school, tracking down parents to fill out forms well after school has started because they certainly didn't submit it on time when asked the prior year. Do you think that registrar is verifying that the phone numbers and emails on every single submission packet are correct? They don't have the bandwidth for that. For many of these students, they are lucky to even get to a point of signed paperwork so that the kid can be legally enrolled.

So many of you are coming at this with only a UMC person's understanding of how school works. You have NO IDEA how this actually works in the parts of DC where poverty and homelessness are common and families have few resources.

Of course I understand that, but they're not able to competently handle it at JR, which was my earlier point. The admin has no idea who is at school or not at JR. Of course, that doesn't bode well for other schools. That's the point. But, I also contend that if the attendance officers aren't doing their job, then who's to say the registrars are either. Also, Pew reported that the vast majority of people have cell phones, including those with HHI under $30K.

Yes people have cell phones. Sometimes they change numbers. Sometimes the cell phone gets cutoff for a period of time. Sometimes kids are registered by grandma but move back in with their parent or another family member. Grandma gives her phone number, not the parent. And sometimes they give the wrong number on purpose. Why? Because they don’t want phone calls from the school.

Exactly. DCPS has plenty of incompetence issues but it's also important to understand the challenges they face. It's so frustrating when so many of the people loudly complaining about DCPS policies or procedures don't understand fundamental challenges o running schools in a district with high poverty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the other side of the coin, I’m getting tired of the repeated nasty grams DCPS is sending me for excused absences. My kid missed a week with a high fever. I’ve gotten emails, texts, letters, and voicemails reminding me how important it is to be in school. I’m expecting Hagrid to break into my cabin any minute.

The funny thing about this is lots of kids have the wrong phone number, no email, wrong address, etc. in the system. So most of those letters and texts go no where.

How is that possible? You have to register for DCPS every year. And, there are no pre-filled forms. Also, if you fill out an attendance form you have to put in your phone number and email.

Do you really not understand that many people who happen to have chronically absent or truant kids may not have addresses or phone numbers that are consistent for very long? May have no regular email or internet access? Or are bad at filling out paperwork? Or don't care enough to do so? There are lots of schools in DC where a huge part of the registrar's job will be trying to get at least some paperwork on the kids who show up for school, tracking down parents to fill out forms well after school has started because they certainly didn't submit it on time when asked the prior year. Do you think that registrar is verifying that the phone numbers and emails on every single submission packet are correct? They don't have the bandwidth for that. For many of these students, they are lucky to even get to a point of signed paperwork so that the kid can be legally enrolled.

So many of you are coming at this with only a UMC person's understanding of how school works. You have NO IDEA how this actually works in the parts of DC where poverty and homelessness are common and families have few resources.

Of course I understand that, but they're not able to competently handle it at JR, which was my earlier point. The admin has no idea who is at school or not at JR. Of course, that doesn't bode well for other schools. That's the point. But, I also contend that if the attendance officers aren't doing their job, then who's to say the registrars are either. Also, Pew reported that the vast majority of people have cell phones, including those with HHI under $30K.

Yes people have cell phones. Sometimes they change numbers. Sometimes the cell phone gets cutoff for a period of time. Sometimes kids are registered by grandma but move back in with their parent or another family member. Grandma gives her phone number, not the parent. And sometimes they give the wrong number on purpose. Why? Because they don’t want phone calls from the school.

Exactly. DCPS has plenty of incompetence issues but it's also important to understand the challenges they face. It's so frustrating when so many of the people loudly complaining about DCPS policies or procedures don't understand fundamental challenges o running schools in a district with high poverty.

+1

I think you have to work in a school or volunteer or something to really understand the problems. I will never forget finally getting a parent to talk to me about their child and in front of their 15 year old the parent said- don’t contact me again. He is your problem now. I don’t care what you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you want DC to do about it? Put 88% of the kids at Ballou, 1/3 of the kids at JR, etc. in foster care? Put all their parents and guardians in jail? Encourage them to drop out so they don't get counted anymore? Send them to boarding school?

94% of kids at Ballou are absent. Yes to all of your suggestions!

Remember when the principal at Ballou had this big announcement that every single kid was accepted to college? Maybe five years ago? their test scores are basically showing kids barely qualified for 9th grade plus not even attending class-yet all of them got into college? For profit school that advertise on tv will take anyone's student loan money! what a joke

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why no push?

DCPS spent time, money and energy renaming schools when kids were in virtual school. Instead of focusing on getting kids into school buildings, they wanted schools to not be named after any white person.

Now you’re surprised this same district isn’t fighting truancy?

DCPS leadership either doesn’t prioritize education or simply is ignorant and doesn’t know any better.

Yawwwwwwwn.

It’s nearly 2024. This excuse is played out. Get a new one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, I'll be that person.

These are the consequences of prolonged school closures. The truancy rates and the juvenile crime issues.

If we want to address these issues, we need politicians and policy-makers who are willing to come in and say, out loud: We broke trust and destroyed relationships between schools and families during the Covid closures. We abandoned the kids in the district who most desperately need support from the education system. We need a plan that directly addresses this problem and finds a way to get these kids back into classrooms, back connected with the functional, law-abiding aspects of our community. This will likely require direct family intervention that addresses all aspects of the dysfunction that was made much worse during the pandemic -- mental health, substance abuse, domestic violence, and criminality. We need funding to hire more truancy officers, social workers, and family services counselors and we need to start identifying the kids and families who need serious intervention and doing whatever we can to at LEAST return to pre-Covid numbers.

You can't treat a disease when you refuse to name it. This isn't about schools miscategorizing absences. This is about a broken system that wasn't doing great pre-Covid but absolutely collapsed during school closures. We need to repair it.

I am so angry that no one will talk about these issues with the directness and honesty that is needed. Are we still pretending school closures were just inconveniences for rich white people and actually helped poor communities in the city? Really? After the test scores, the truancy rates, and the juvenile crime stats all make it abundantly clear that the opposite is true?

We messed up. Schools should have reopened in July 2020 (yes, July, the push should have been to get in-person summer school for all at risk kids ASAP and then everyone back in August). It's fine to acknowledge people were scared and that a lot of other cities made a similar mistake. But it WAS a mistake. We need to fix it.

You’ll be “that person” — a low information excuse-maker who’s stuck in the past?

I’m really sorry, but the COVID excuse card is EXPIRED. Please get help to move forward in 20-freaking-24.

[Anonymous]

This list isn’t shocking. I teach at a public DCPS high school that’s not listed but should be. When I complain about truancy, I’m told that it’s just the way it is. The students aren’t held accountable for anything:grades, attendance, or behavior. Excuses are made for and given to them so they have no reason to change. No one cares.

I feel badly for the kids who come to school and expect to be educated. It has to be disappointing sitting in most of their classes. I’m disappointed as an educator.