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

[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.

It's not really a problem at our school. It sounds like the methods are flawed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

At my HS we’ve been cracking down on better record keeping, and it really is astonishing how many kids are skipping school full or partial days. Parental excuses are all over the map. Some know their kid is home - actually sick, “doesn’t feel good”, school refusal, kid doesn’t want to get up. Some write excuses for anything, some don’t. Some send kid out the door but kid doesn’t arrive at school. Some kids arrive at school and then selectively attend classes. Leave early for lunch, arrive late from lunch, go to the portables for class but don’t actually go in, hide somewhere in the building - it’s crazy.

In 4th quarter alone I had 15/85 students in an _Honors_ course absent more than 10 days out of the first 30 (and not due to testing). 5 kids I saw at most 10 times. Most of them didn’t pass due to never turning in work. I spent a lot of time in both 3rd and 4th quarter with emails, phone calls, and student conferences to try to get them engaged, attending, and turning in work. Didn’t make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes! I agree. Let the 16 year olds who don't want to be there drop-out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I agree that subs and the record keeping for distinguishing between tardies and absences is abysmal, but that's probably not the significant basis for the levels of chronic absenteeism that we're seeing.

[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.

It is frustrating. One class period I teach (MS) has never had 100% attendance. Never. Not out of 178 days of school. Always at least one student absent. Often 4-5. Some students are absent at least once a week. Some miss two or more days each week. They do not connect school attendance to success in the course, let alone success in the future. One stays home every week on her mom’s day off. The mom is very young (late 20s). They sleep late, watch movies, get their nails or hair done, and make TikTok videos. The mom’s position is that she’s got this one day a week to be a mom since she works multiple jobs and her kid is with grandma the other six days. She says that when she was in MS, she stayed home to watch her siblings.

Kids don’t always miss class because they don’t value education or feel bored. Kids miss class because they are embarrassed to not read well or not know the answers. Or because they feel unsafe in class due to racism, sexism, and bullying. Or they have somatic illnesses due to stress and depression.

They are not better off not being there because the less schooling they get the more likely they will be stuck in low wage jobs and unable to help their own kids with school some day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Yep. This is exactly what is happening in MCPS. Having several kids in the school system for the past 15 years, it just gets worse and worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Agree with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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....

I teach in Baltimore City and it's over 50%.

[Anonymous]

I don't believe school districts are responsible to ensure kids attend school. That is a parenting issue. I'm sorry, but why waste money on some kind of plan? Parents can send their kids or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe school districts are responsible to ensure kids attend school. That is a parenting issue. I'm sorry, but why waste money on some kind of plan? Parents can send their kids or not.

As others pointed out, there is a distinction between missing the full day or missing classes. Your might be valid for those missing the full day, but for those skipping classes, it absolutely is an issue of the schools having no enforcement or repercussions. Some kids skip class by just wandering the halls of the school. And no one makes them go to class, punishes them for this behavior or contacts parents for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

My understanding from our MCPS school is that this includes excused absences such as due to illness - meaning we were contacted about this for our elementary schooler who has only 2 unexcused absences the entire year (due to family travel) but 20 excused absences due to the constant illness circulating everywhere. So I’d like to see a better breakdown of how many kids are “chronically absent” based on unexcused absences before deciding whether this warrants the level of concern it seems to be provoking.

[Anonymous]

It's a huge part of teacher burn out too. We are expected to chase after the kids and families and document everything. They kids come to us after missing a whole semester and ask us how they can pass. If you tell them to go to class they curse you out. If they ask you to keep the noise down in the hallway becuase other people are trying to learn they laugh at you. They miss so much content and then are promoted the the next level class and don't have the base knowledge to succeed and the cycle starts again.

I was at my school's graduation and they kept calling names that made me think "how the F did that kid graduate - I had him for 2 semesters and never met him."

If they do show up for class here and there, they're so lost and I have no way of getting them up to speed in order to participate that day.

I try to give them grace for all they are going through outside of school. But how will they ever keep a job if they think they can not show up and still get by?? We're doing them a disservice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

My understanding from our MCPS school is that this includes excused absences such as due to illness - meaning we were contacted about this for our elementary schooler who has only 2 unexcused absences the entire year (due to family travel) but 20 excused absences due to the constant illness circulating everywhere. So I’d like to see a better breakdown of how many kids are “chronically absent” based on unexcused absences before deciding whether this warrants the level of concern it seems to be provoking.

This.

If you have kids who tend to get sick easily, suffer from a chronic illness or migraines, have frequent appointments (dental, braces, therapists), etc. then you’ll notice absences. Throw in travel or family functions and the # of days add up quickly.

You know who has ridiculously strict truancy laws? Texas. Do you really want to be like Texas?

[Anonymous]

(a) If a student fails to attend school without excuse on 10 or more days or parts of days within a six-month period in the same school year, a school district shall within 10 school days of the student's 10th absencerefer the student to a truancy court for truant conduct under Section 65.003(a), Family Code.

^^^
TX truancy laws

If your kid gets covid or a couple bad illnesses, you’re screwed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:(a) If a student fails to attend school without excuse on 10 or more days or parts of days within a six-month period in the same school year, a school district shall within 10 school days of the student's 10th absencerefer the student to a truancy court for truant conduct under Section 65.003(a), Family Code.

^^^
TX truancy laws

If your kid gets covid or a couple bad illnesses, you’re screwed.

And do you know which parents will bother to show up? The good ones with legit excuses, not the families/students they are hoping to help.

Question: does the report provide demographics? Is this a problem among affluent families?