Increase Absenteeism in Midle/Upper SES students not due to illness?

[Anonymous]

This is not an FCPS calendar issue. It’s a problem all over. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA956-34.html

[Anonymous]

FCPS has continued to make it clear they do not care about absenteeism. If they did they would require seat time for kids to be able to pass a class. At our school, our entire school pretty much leaves for study hall time to go get breakfast and returns in an hour. We put these mandatory SEL lessons into our schedule and the whole school leaves.

[Anonymous]

There is an epidemic of teen anxiety and school avoidance. I don't know why it isn't getting more attention. Someone needs to ask what is going on at school that is causing so much anxiety that kids will stop going to avoid it.

[Anonymous]

We took a holiday trip that required 5 days off in a row. Difficult trip to plan with limited vacation time for parents.
Our kids will graduate and do well in life regardless of 9-12 attendance. I always knew it and it is true.The way we support our kids in life gives them a head start school cannot.
Older one works already. He does not skip work like he skipped high school. He'd be looking for a new job if he did.
The younger kid loves going to school luckily and gets easy A's. He will also take work more seriously. Maybe the pay is a good motivator. I don't give him hard time over school attendance.
Missing 30 days of school a year makes no difference. If any, I think I absolutely overdid it.
I will never get the time back I spent doing useless homework.

[Anonymous]

Got it. Honest question: What colleges are your kids accepted to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We took a holiday trip that required 5 days off in a row. Difficult trip to plan with limited vacation time for parents.
Our kids will graduate and do well in life regardless of 9-12 attendance. I always knew it and it is true.The way we support our kids in life gives them a head start school cannot.
Older one works already. He does not skip work like he skipped high school. He'd be looking for a new job if he did.
The younger kid loves going to school luckily and gets easy A's. He will also take work more seriously. Maybe the pay is a good motivator. I don't give him hard time over school attendance.
Missing 30 days of school a year makes no difference. If any, I think I absolutely overdid it.
I will never get the time back I spent doing useless homework.

This is why!!! Parents don’t care. Honestly your child may be passing and getting a decent grade but your child will fall seriously behind if they miss 30 days. Good luck teaching yourself math, chemistry, physics with this attitude. It is also why we are scoring so poorly on math aptitude tests overall as a country.

Also your definition of doing well would never match my definition. And who cares if they work a job that pays minimum wage or close to it that is almost worthless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is an epidemic of teen anxiety and school avoidance. I don't know why it isn't getting more attention. Someone needs to ask what is going on at school that is causing so much anxiety that kids will stop going to avoid it.

Someone needs to ask what is going on at home that is more motivating than going to school?

Now there are lots of things to do. It is just easier to stay home and be on your phone all day or play video games. There are no more consequences at school and many jurisdictions no longer fine or threaten parents. Parent has to go to work, kids says no. Kid stays home. There used to be truant officers to help haul the kid into school.

Now add that the the fact that kids and parents still remember school was cancelled for so long during Covid. Since then for many families school has remained semi-optional.

So sure there are some kids with anxiety and kids who are being bullied so fearful of going to school. But the vast majority of students who are chronically missing school just find it more motivating to stay home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can only speak anecdotally but it seems to be high in our HS. It not just athletes either. Would love to hear from teachers about this.

I am a parent of high school kids and I am traditionally very strict about attendance.

This year, with all the 3 and 4 day weeks and almost no 5 day weeks, I have completely dropped my strict attendance requirements for my high schoolers.

If FCPS doesn't care about having kids in school, why should parents or students?

As long as my kid is current on homework and doesn't have a test or presentation due, and they feel like skipping school, I simply say yes.

I never, ever would have allowed this with my older kids.

But with this stupid pointless schedule, attendance is not a priority in FCPS, so it's ok if my kid misses when they feel like this.

I am not the only high school parent that feels this way. Many high school parents are openly discussing the same thing.

Consistent attendance in FCPS is no longer an important priority for the district.

Take days off whenever your teen feels like it, as long as the work is turned in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s really on the parents in high school. Most call their kids in sick, the usual suspects are headache or diarrhea over and over again. I would say of my 140 students. Almost all the honors are there every single day, but the regular kids, I have 5-7 missing each class and it is a different set of kids. Of those 58 students, 24 have missed 12 or more classes so far this year. We have only had about 70 total. And 19 have missed 15 or more. Admin is told over and over again but they act like there is nothing that can do

It's because of the pointless schedule.

Ask the parents.

Everyone is talking about it, and most parents no longer view attendance at fcps as a priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's the choppy calendar. Clearly education is not a priority with the calendar set as it is so families react accordingly.

^^^^^^^

Say it louder for the people at Gatehouse.

Exactly this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is an epidemic of teen anxiety and school avoidance. I don't know why it isn't getting more attention. Someone needs to ask what is going on at school that is causing so much anxiety that kids will stop going to avoid it.

Nope.

The high schoolers are having a blast cutting class.

They realize ftom this 3 days/week schedule that attendance really doesn't matter in fcps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is an epidemic of teen anxiety and school avoidance. I don't know why it isn't getting more attention. Someone needs to ask what is going on at school that is causing so much anxiety that kids will stop going to avoid it.

Someone needs to ask what is going on at home that is more motivating than going to school?

Now there are lots of things to do. It is just easier to stay home and be on your phone all day or play video games. There are no more consequences at school and many jurisdictions no longer fine or threaten parents. Parent has to go to work, kids says no. Kid stays home. There used to be truant officers to help haul the kid into school.

Now add that the the fact that kids and parents still remember school was cancelled for so long during Covid. Since then for many families school has remained semi-optional.

So sure there are some kids with anxiety and kids who are being bullied so fearful of going to school. But the vast majority of students who are chronically missing school just find it more motivating to stay home.

It's not that deep.

It's the calendar

[Anonymous]

It's directly related to the schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also I teach primarily 10th graders, the 11th and especially 12 graders at our school attendance is horrific.

Same. I think this is true across all income levels because I’m at a title 1 school but many here are posting about their higher SES schools. Parents do not make kids come. It’s way too comfortable for kids to stay home - think about when we were kids. If you stayed home, tv sucked, you had nobody talk to. They stay home and have streaming, tiktok, and can snap their friends all day. The students also on the whole care less about academics and about thinks like sports, for which they would need to be in school. This is true just comparing my students now to my pre Covid students: they generally are much, much less motivated or driven by almost anything, and have zero sense of school community.

Anyway, it’s bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is an epidemic of teen anxiety and school avoidance. I don't know why it isn't getting more attention. Someone needs to ask what is going on at school that is causing so much anxiety that kids will stop going to avoid it.

Someone needs to ask what is going on at home that is more motivating than going to school?

Now there are lots of things to do. It is just easier to stay home and be on your phone all day or play video games. There are no more consequences at school and many jurisdictions no longer fine or threaten parents. Parent has to go to work, kids says no. Kid stays home. There used to be truant officers to help haul the kid into school.

Now add that the the fact that kids and parents still remember school was cancelled for so long during Covid. Since then for many families school has remained semi-optional.

So sure there are some kids with anxiety and kids who are being bullied so fearful of going to school. But the vast majority of students who are chronically missing school just find it more motivating to stay home.

It's not that deep.

It's the calendar

It’s not. To some extent this is a nationwide issue - it’s brought up a lot in education. I teach in Loudoun , we have a different calendar, and we have the same attendance issues.