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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Steve Austin - accept your loss and please go away. Everyday you post some fake news alarmist title to try and convince people you should have won for school board. It’s not working.

What fake news is posted in this thread title? The data on chronic absenteeism comes from official government sources. The public safety/education committee session from the Montgomery County Council. Fake news is not a dog whistle you can cry when faced with valid information you'd prefer to ignore because you like the dysfunctional status quo in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alas, mcps will never be able to adequately address the problem if they refuse to admit the underlying issues.

ICYMI: we have a big and growing immigrant population that includes teens who need to/prefer to work rather than go to school. Some of these teen boys don’t live with their parents who arent even in this country. Some are involved in criminal activity. Newsflash: they will never come to school everyday…which I believe is why you are opting for the unenroll policy…to get them off your books. Fair.

But that problem is different from when families yank their kids out to travel to another country to visit relatives/go to funerals/whatever. And it isn’t the same as when we travel for fun when it’s affordable.

And ICYMI: good parents keep their sick kids at home. Do you really want us sending sick kids to school?

It should be rather obvious who wants an education and who doesn’t. Start there, and don’t be daft.

It is multifactorial. One problem contributing to chronic absenteeism applies to what you said within the hispanic community. But the second largest group with chronic absenteeism is not immigrant based, it's black and African-American. In that community, we have an absolute failure of parenting. Either with the absence of fathers or the enabling of mothers who refuse to believe their "little angels" aren't little angels.

And with white parents, you also have enablers who feel like anything their kids do is justifiable, so they'll complain to admin and the school board when their children don't get special treatment. They'll write fake notes to excuse their child for skipping etc.

Lastly, MCPS bears responsibility because they became lax in enforcing attendance policies either in the name of being "forgiving" post-pandemic or to avoid being labeled racist, because the kids with the highest rates of chronic absenteeism are black and brown.

Everyone has blood on their hands in this system when it comes to this problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They aren't coming to school because their parents don't make them go. In some cases, the parents don't know they didn't go to school. We send robocalls to kids who are absent. So many parents have non-working numbers on file that they don't even know that their kid didn't go to school.

One day I forgot to email that my HS student was sick. I didn’t get a Robo call until 6 PM at night. Really too late to have done anything if my child was skipping.

Does each school set the call time for the Robo calls or is it through MCPS?

[Anonymous]

This isn't an MCPS problem. It's a parenting problem. How hard is it for parents to do the bare minimum anymore? Stop having kids you refuse to raise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even better, we have kids to physically come to school but will not go to class so they walk the hallways all day and admin does nothing.

Or they go to class and do nothing. The state of education is so pathetic. These kids have no motivation to do anything other than scroll. The future is bleak.

[Anonymous]

Here's an article with details spelled out more clearly. https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/11/more-than-20-per-cent-of-students-in-montgomery-county-schools-are-chronically-absent/

The first thing that caught my eye was the comments by Council member Gabe Albornoz who noted that, according to demographic data provided by the school system, 31.5% of the students who are chronically absent are Hispanic. That’s double the number of white students and nearly 12 percentage points above Black students who are chronically absent. He then went on to relate that to a increase in gang activity.

But, wait a minute - is that actually disproportional? According to these numbers, of the total students who are chronically absent (10% of school days) the demographic breakdown is:
31.5% Hispanic
15.8% White
19.6% Black
33.1% Asian, 2 or more races, & other (by subtracting from 100% total)

Hmmm. According to the data on MCPS website from 2022-23, the student body is:
34.6% Hispanic/Latino, 24.4% White, 21.8% Black, 13.9% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 5.1% two or more races, and 0.2% other (19.2% for Asian, 2+, other).

So, Hispanic and Black students are actually slightly underrepresented, white students are significantly underrepresented, and the actual scofflaws are students who are Asian & 2+ races.

I realize DCUM loves to jump into favorite stereotypes like a comfy pair of slippers, but it would be nice if occasionally people exercised some critical thinking.

Let's put some context onto the "chronic absences" category. This is 10% of school days, which for 1st quarter (45 days) is 5 absences. That's one bout of Covid and not coming on the half day. Hardly a crisis. Also, that is total absences, regardless of whether or not they are excused. What I wish we would first focus on are the students who are chronically truant (20%) absences.

I teach high school - here's a quick summary for 80 kids across three sections of an Honors class. Pretty mixed demographics.
8 kids out for Covid at some point for at least 4 days.
3 kids with serious medical issues (surgeries) out for more than a week.
2 kids with mental health issues out for more than a week, and another 4 or 5 with excused absences pretty regularly that I think are mental health related.
1 kid participating in an elite sport that was only supposed to be one absence a few times, but has ended up as many extra absences afterwards due to illness or injury.
9 kids who are actually unexcused absent fairly often (one specifically skipping my class) and who are definitely being affected grade-wise.

So, 35% of my students in Honors classes are chronically absent, but only about 11% of them are an actual problem. Do the absences affect the learning for all of them? Absolutely. But an awful lot of kids who are chronically absent have legitimate reasons (illness, appointments, funerals). Screaming about total numbers detracts from solving the real problems for a subset of kids who have unexcused absences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even better, we have kids to physically come to school but will not go to class so they walk the hallways all day and admin does nothing.

Or they go to class and do nothing. The state of education is so pathetic. These kids have no motivation to do anything other than scroll. The future is bleak.

The "state of education" or the state of kids these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's an article with details spelled out more clearly. https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/11/more-than-20-per-cent-of-students-in-montgomery-county-schools-are-chronically-absent/

The first thing that caught my eye was the comments by Council member Gabe Albornoz who noted that, according to demographic data provided by the school system, 31.5% of the students who are chronically absent are Hispanic. That’s double the number of white students and nearly 12 percentage points above Black students who are chronically absent. He then went on to relate that to a increase in gang activity.

But, wait a minute - is that actually disproportional? According to these numbers, of the total students who are chronically absent (10% of school days) the demographic breakdown is:
31.5% Hispanic
15.8% White
19.6% Black
33.1% Asian, 2 or more races, & other (by subtracting from 100% total)

Hmmm. According to the data on MCPS website from 2022-23, the student body is:
34.6% Hispanic/Latino, 24.4% White, 21.8% Black, 13.9% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 5.1% two or more races, and 0.2% other (19.2% for Asian, 2+, other).

So, Hispanic and Black students are actually slightly underrepresented, white students are significantly underrepresented, and the actual scofflaws are students who are Asian & 2+ races.

I realize DCUM loves to jump into favorite stereotypes like a comfy pair of slippers, but it would be nice if occasionally people exercised some critical thinking.

Let's put some context onto the "chronic absences" category. This is 10% of school days, which for 1st quarter (45 days) is 5 absences. That's one bout of Covid and not coming on the half day. Hardly a crisis. Also, that is total absences, regardless of whether or not they are excused. What I wish we would first focus on are the students who are chronically truant (20%) absences.

I teach high school - here's a quick summary for 80 kids across three sections of an Honors class. Pretty mixed demographics.
8 kids out for Covid at some point for at least 4 days.
3 kids with serious medical issues (surgeries) out for more than a week.
2 kids with mental health issues out for more than a week, and another 4 or 5 with excused absences pretty regularly that I think are mental health related.
1 kid participating in an elite sport that was only supposed to be one absence a few times, but has ended up as many extra absences afterwards due to illness or injury.
9 kids who are actually unexcused absent fairly often (one specifically skipping my class) and who are definitely being affected grade-wise.

So, 35% of my students in Honors classes are chronically absent, but only about 11% of them are an actual problem. Do the absences affect the learning for all of them? Absolutely. But an awful lot of kids who are chronically absent have legitimate reasons (illness, appointments, funerals). Screaming about total numbers detracts from solving the real problems for a subset of kids who have unexcused absences.

+1. The chronically absent data needs to be broken out by excused vs unexcused absence, whole day vs certain periods, morning tardy/absent bs other times of day, %with overall grades of C or less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's an article with details spelled out more clearly. https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/11/more-than-20-per-cent-of-students-in-montgomery-county-schools-are-chronically-absent/

The first thing that caught my eye was the comments by Council member Gabe Albornoz who noted that, according to demographic data provided by the school system, 31.5% of the students who are chronically absent are Hispanic. That’s double the number of white students and nearly 12 percentage points above Black students who are chronically absent. He then went on to relate that to a increase in gang activity.

But, wait a minute - is that actually disproportional? According to these numbers, of the total students who are chronically absent (10% of school days) the demographic breakdown is:
31.5% Hispanic
15.8% White
19.6% Black
33.1% Asian, 2 or more races, & other (by subtracting from 100% total)

Hmmm. According to the data on MCPS website from 2022-23, the student body is:
34.6% Hispanic/Latino, 24.4% White, 21.8% Black, 13.9% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 5.1% two or more races, and 0.2% other (19.2% for Asian, 2+, other).

So, Hispanic and Black students are actually slightly underrepresented, white students are significantly underrepresented, and the actual scofflaws are students who are Asian & 2+ races.

I realize DCUM loves to jump into favorite stereotypes like a comfy pair of slippers, but it would be nice if occasionally people exercised some critical thinking.

Let's put some context onto the "chronic absences" category. This is 10% of school days, which for 1st quarter (45 days) is 5 absences. That's one bout of Covid and not coming on the half day. Hardly a crisis. Also, that is total absences, regardless of whether or not they are excused. What I wish we would first focus on are the students who are chronically truant (20%) absences.

I teach high school - here's a quick summary for 80 kids across three sections of an Honors class. Pretty mixed demographics.
8 kids out for Covid at some point for at least 4 days.
3 kids with serious medical issues (surgeries) out for more than a week.
2 kids with mental health issues out for more than a week, and another 4 or 5 with excused absences pretty regularly that I think are mental health related.
1 kid participating in an elite sport that was only supposed to be one absence a few times, but has ended up as many extra absences afterwards due to illness or injury.
9 kids who are actually unexcused absent fairly often (one specifically skipping my class) and who are definitely being affected grade-wise.

So, 35% of my students in Honors classes are chronically absent, but only about 11% of them are an actual problem. Do the absences affect the learning for all of them? Absolutely. But an awful lot of kids who are chronically absent have legitimate reasons (illness, appointments, funerals). Screaming about total numbers detracts from solving the real problems for a subset of kids who have unexcused absences.

+1. The chronically absent data needs to be broken out by excused vs unexcused absence, whole day vs certain periods, morning tardy/absent bs other times of day, %with overall grades of C or less.

It's not clear to me what the consequence is for kids who consistently skip 1 or 2 classes. So if you're techinically present daily but then rack up 15 or 18 absences in just 4th and 6th period, will that kid show up as chronically absent or not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Steve Austin - accept your loss and please go away. Everyday you post some fake news alarmist title to try and convince people you should have won for school board. It’s not working.

We've got a new diagnosis, SADS (Steve Austin Derangement Syndrome).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's an article with details spelled out more clearly. https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/11/more-than-20-per-cent-of-students-in-montgomery-county-schools-are-chronically-absent/

The first thing that caught my eye was the comments by Council member Gabe Albornoz who noted that, according to demographic data provided by the school system, 31.5% of the students who are chronically absent are Hispanic. That’s double the number of white students and nearly 12 percentage points above Black students who are chronically absent. He then went on to relate that to a increase in gang activity.

But, wait a minute - is that actually disproportional? According to these numbers, of the total students who are chronically absent (10% of school days) the demographic breakdown is:
31.5% Hispanic
15.8% White
19.6% Black
33.1% Asian, 2 or more races, & other (by subtracting from 100% total)

Hmmm. According to the data on MCPS website from 2022-23, the student body is:
34.6% Hispanic/Latino, 24.4% White, 21.8% Black, 13.9% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 5.1% two or more races, and 0.2% other (19.2% for Asian, 2+, other).

So, Hispanic and Black students are actually slightly underrepresented, white students are significantly underrepresented, and the actual scofflaws are students who are Asian & 2+ races.

I realize DCUM loves to jump into favorite stereotypes like a comfy pair of slippers, but it would be nice if occasionally people exercised some critical thinking.

Let's put some context onto the "chronic absences" category. This is 10% of school days, which for 1st quarter (45 days) is 5 absences. That's one bout of Covid and not coming on the half day. Hardly a crisis. Also, that is total absences, regardless of whether or not they are excused. What I wish we would first focus on are the students who are chronically truant (20%) absences.

I teach high school - here's a quick summary for 80 kids across three sections of an Honors class. Pretty mixed demographics.
8 kids out for Covid at some point for at least 4 days.
3 kids with serious medical issues (surgeries) out for more than a week.
2 kids with mental health issues out for more than a week, and another 4 or 5 with excused absences pretty regularly that I think are mental health related.
1 kid participating in an elite sport that was only supposed to be one absence a few times, but has ended up as many extra absences afterwards due to illness or injury.
9 kids who are actually unexcused absent fairly often (one specifically skipping my class) and who are definitely being affected grade-wise.

So, 35% of my students in Honors classes are chronically absent, but only about 11% of them are an actual problem. Do the absences affect the learning for all of them? Absolutely. But an awful lot of kids who are chronically absent have legitimate reasons (illness, appointments, funerals). Screaming about total numbers detracts from solving the real problems for a subset of kids who have unexcused absences.

+1. The chronically absent data needs to be broken out by excused vs unexcused absence, whole day vs certain periods, morning tardy/absent bs other times of day, %with overall grades of C or less.

It's not clear to me what the consequence is for kids who consistently skip 1 or 2 classes. So if you're techinically present daily but then rack up 15 or 18 absences in just 4th and 6th period, will that kid show up as chronically absent or not?

There are no consequences at the high school where I teach

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's an article with details spelled out more clearly. https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/11/more-than-20-per-cent-of-students-in-montgomery-county-schools-are-chronically-absent/

The first thing that caught my eye was the comments by Council member Gabe Albornoz who noted that, according to demographic data provided by the school system, 31.5% of the students who are chronically absent are Hispanic. That’s double the number of white students and nearly 12 percentage points above Black students who are chronically absent. He then went on to relate that to a increase in gang activity.

But, wait a minute - is that actually disproportional? According to these numbers, of the total students who are chronically absent (10% of school days) the demographic breakdown is:
31.5% Hispanic
15.8% White
19.6% Black
33.1% Asian, 2 or more races, & other (by subtracting from 100% total)

Hmmm. According to the data on MCPS website from 2022-23, the student body is:
34.6% Hispanic/Latino, 24.4% White, 21.8% Black, 13.9% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 5.1% two or more races, and 0.2% other (19.2% for Asian, 2+, other).

So, Hispanic and Black students are actually slightly underrepresented, white students are significantly underrepresented, and the actual scofflaws are students who are Asian & 2+ races.

I realize DCUM loves to jump into favorite stereotypes like a comfy pair of slippers, but it would be nice if occasionally people exercised some critical thinking.

Let's put some context onto the "chronic absences" category. This is 10% of school days, which for 1st quarter (45 days) is 5 absences. That's one bout of Covid and not coming on the half day. Hardly a crisis. Also, that is total absences, regardless of whether or not they are excused. What I wish we would first focus on are the students who are chronically truant (20%) absences.

I teach high school - here's a quick summary for 80 kids across three sections of an Honors class. Pretty mixed demographics.
8 kids out for Covid at some point for at least 4 days.
3 kids with serious medical issues (surgeries) out for more than a week.
2 kids with mental health issues out for more than a week, and another 4 or 5 with excused absences pretty regularly that I think are mental health related.
1 kid participating in an elite sport that was only supposed to be one absence a few times, but has ended up as many extra absences afterwards due to illness or injury.
9 kids who are actually unexcused absent fairly often (one specifically skipping my class) and who are definitely being affected grade-wise.

So, 35% of my students in Honors classes are chronically absent, but only about 11% of them are an actual problem. Do the absences affect the learning for all of them? Absolutely. But an awful lot of kids who are chronically absent have legitimate reasons (illness, appointments, funerals). Screaming about total numbers detracts from solving the real problems for a subset of kids who have unexcused absences.

Your numbers are all wrong.

The 2022 Chronic Absenteeism Data are:
https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/Graphs/#/Demographics/ChronicAbsenteeism/3/99/1/6/15/XXXX/2022

2022 African Am. 22.2% 7741/34910
2022 HI/Pac.Isl. 21.8% 31/142
2022 White 13.6% 5509/40437
2022 2+ 17.8% 1442/8086
2022 Hispanic 36.6% 19942/54446
2022 Am.Ind/AK 30.0% 93/310
2022 Asian 11.5% 2608/22767

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
So, Hispanic and Black students are actually slightly underrepresented, white students are significantly underrepresented, and the actual scofflaws are students who are Asian & 2+ races.

Ridiculously false statement. Asian chronic absenteeism rate is the lowest among all groups.
See Maryland State Report Card:
https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/Graphs/#/Demographics/ChronicAbsenteeism/3/99/1/6/15/XXXX/2022

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's an article with details spelled out more clearly. https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/11/more-than-20-per-cent-of-students-in-montgomery-county-schools-are-chronically-absent/

The first thing that caught my eye was the comments by Council member Gabe Albornoz who noted that, according to demographic data provided by the school system, 31.5% of the students who are chronically absent are Hispanic. That’s double the number of white students and nearly 12 percentage points above Black students who are chronically absent. He then went on to relate that to a increase in gang activity.

But, wait a minute - is that actually disproportional? According to these numbers, of the total students who are chronically absent (10% of school days) the demographic breakdown is:
31.5% Hispanic
15.8% White
19.6% Black
33.1% Asian, 2 or more races, & other (by subtracting from 100% total)

Hmmm. According to the data on MCPS website from 2022-23, the student body is:
34.6% Hispanic/Latino, 24.4% White, 21.8% Black, 13.9% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 5.1% two or more races, and 0.2% other (19.2% for Asian, 2+, other).

So, Hispanic and Black students are actually slightly underrepresented, white students are significantly underrepresented, and the actual scofflaws are students who are Asian & 2+ races.

I realize DCUM loves to jump into favorite stereotypes like a comfy pair of slippers, but it would be nice if occasionally people exercised some critical thinking.

Let's put some context onto the "chronic absences" category. This is 10% of school days, which for 1st quarter (45 days) is 5 absences. That's one bout of Covid and not coming on the half day. Hardly a crisis. Also, that is total absences, regardless of whether or not they are excused. What I wish we would first focus on are the students who are chronically truant (20%) absences.

I teach high school - here's a quick summary for 80 kids across three sections of an Honors class. Pretty mixed demographics.
8 kids out for Covid at some point for at least 4 days.
3 kids with serious medical issues (surgeries) out for more than a week.
2 kids with mental health issues out for more than a week, and another 4 or 5 with excused absences pretty regularly that I think are mental health related.
1 kid participating in an elite sport that was only supposed to be one absence a few times, but has ended up as many extra absences afterwards due to illness or injury.
9 kids who are actually unexcused absent fairly often (one specifically skipping my class) and who are definitely being affected grade-wise.

So, 35% of my students in Honors classes are chronically absent, but only about 11% of them are an actual problem. Do the absences affect the learning for all of them? Absolutely. But an awful lot of kids who are chronically absent have legitimate reasons (illness, appointments, funerals). Screaming about total numbers detracts from solving the real problems for a subset of kids who have unexcused absences.

Your numbers are all wrong.

The 2022 Chronic Absenteeism Data are:
https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/Graphs/#/Demographics/ChronicAbsenteeism/3/99/1/6/15/XXXX/2022

2022 African Am. 22.2% 7741/34910
2022 HI/Pac.Isl. 21.8% 31/142
2022 White 13.6% 5509/40437
2022 2+ 17.8% 1442/8086
2022 Hispanic 36.6% 19942/54446
2022 Am.Ind/AK 30.0% 93/310
2022 Asian 11.5% 2608/22767

It’s useful to read carefully.

#1 I’m using the data stated in the article and how council member Albornoz responded to it.

#2 The rates as reported in the article were percentage of total chronic absences, not absence rates per group. If absence rates were uniform, they should be proportionate to the percentages of the demographic for the whole student body. As reported in the article, they are not.

#3 Your data is from 2022, and the article and discussion is about 2023 data.

#4 The whole point being that people love to misuse data to reinforce a preconceived notion. See #1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's an article with details spelled out more clearly. https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/11/more-than-20-per-cent-of-students-in-montgomery-county-schools-are-chronically-absent/

The first thing that caught my eye was the comments by Council member Gabe Albornoz who noted that, according to demographic data provided by the school system, 31.5% of the students who are chronically absent are Hispanic. That’s double the number of white students and nearly 12 percentage points above Black students who are chronically absent. He then went on to relate that to a increase in gang activity.

But, wait a minute - is that actually disproportional? According to these numbers, of the total students who are chronically absent (10% of school days) the demographic breakdown is:
31.5% Hispanic
15.8% White
19.6% Black
33.1% Asian, 2 or more races, & other (by subtracting from 100% total)

Hmmm. According to the data on MCPS website from 2022-23, the student body is:
34.6% Hispanic/Latino, 24.4% White, 21.8% Black, 13.9% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 5.1% two or more races, and 0.2% other (19.2% for Asian, 2+, other).

So, Hispanic and Black students are actually slightly underrepresented, white students are significantly underrepresented, and the actual scofflaws are students who are Asian & 2+ races.

I realize DCUM loves to jump into favorite stereotypes like a comfy pair of slippers, but it would be nice if occasionally people exercised some critical thinking.

Let's put some context onto the "chronic absences" category. This is 10% of school days, which for 1st quarter (45 days) is 5 absences. That's one bout of Covid and not coming on the half day. Hardly a crisis. Also, that is total absences, regardless of whether or not they are excused. What I wish we would first focus on are the students who are chronically truant (20%) absences.

I teach high school - here's a quick summary for 80 kids across three sections of an Honors class. Pretty mixed demographics.
8 kids out for Covid at some point for at least 4 days.
3 kids with serious medical issues (surgeries) out for more than a week.
2 kids with mental health issues out for more than a week, and another 4 or 5 with excused absences pretty regularly that I think are mental health related.
1 kid participating in an elite sport that was only supposed to be one absence a few times, but has ended up as many extra absences afterwards due to illness or injury.
9 kids who are actually unexcused absent fairly often (one specifically skipping my class) and who are definitely being affected grade-wise.

So, 35% of my students in Honors classes are chronically absent, but only about 11% of them are an actual problem. Do the absences affect the learning for all of them? Absolutely. But an awful lot of kids who are chronically absent have legitimate reasons (illness, appointments, funerals). Screaming about total numbers detracts from solving the real problems for a subset of kids who have unexcused absences.

Your numbers are all wrong.

The 2022 Chronic Absenteeism Data are:
https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/Graphs/#/Demographics/ChronicAbsenteeism/3/99/1/6/15/XXXX/2022

2022 African Am. 22.2% 7741/34910
2022 HI/Pac.Isl. 21.8% 31/142
2022 White 13.6% 5509/40437
2022 2+ 17.8% 1442/8086
2022 Hispanic 36.6% 19942/54446
2022 Am.Ind/AK 30.0% 93/310
2022 Asian 11.5% 2608/22767

It’s useful to read carefully.

#1 I’m using the data stated in the article and how council member Albornoz responded to it.

#2 The rates as reported in the article were percentage of total chronic absences, not absence rates per group. If absence rates were uniform, they should be proportionate to the percentages of the demographic for the whole student body. As reported in the article, they are not.

#3 Your data is from 2022, and the article and discussion is about 2023 data.

#4 The whole point being that people love to misuse data to reinforce a preconceived notion. See #1.

The article states: "31.5% of the students who are chronically absent are Hispanic."
https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/11/more-than-20-per-cent-of-students-in-montgomery-county-schools-are-chronically-absent/

This number is wrong.

Look at 2022 numbers:
https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/Graphs/#/Demographics/ChronicAbsenteeism/3/99/1/6/15/XXXX/2022

Group Absent Absent/Total Absent
African Am. 7741 20.7%
HI/Pac.Isl. 31 0.1%
White 5509 14.7%
2+ 1442 3.9%
Hispanic 19942 53.4%
Am.Ind/AK 93 0.2%
Asian 2608 7.0%
Total 37366 100.0%

In 2022, 19942 Hispanic students were chronically absent. That is 53.4% of all students (37366) who were chronically absent.

In 2023, did this number drop from 53.4% to 31.5%? Not likely.

"31.5% of the students who are chronically absent are Hispanic" is likely a misstatement.

It is more likely that 31.5% of all Hispanic students are chronically absent in 2023.

According to State Report Card, 36.6% of all Hispanic students were chronically absent in 2022. The 36.6% (2022) to 31.5% (2023) drop is more likely than the 53.4% to 31.5% drop.

Also, it is a fact that Asian chronic absenteeism rate is the lowest among all groups. That's another proof that your calculations are wrong.

Either the councilmember or the journalist got it wrong.

Come on, you can't trust what you read in the media. You have to do your own math from raw numbers.