Who leaked the MCPS attendance documents to the Washington Post?

[Anonymous]

As a teacher here are legit reasons that a kid might be absent from the classroom and get marked absent by mistake. Attendance, behavioral or emotional issues can exacerbate these:
1. Make up testing
2. Meetings with guidance.
3. Meetings with admin
4. Meetings for therapy (speech pathologist, in school therapist, etc.)
5. Field trips
6. Late to class but marked absent since the teacher forgot to change it. Lates are often due to meeting with a teacher after class.

Theoretically, these should not be absences but it really hard to keep up with for attendance secretaries and teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what I have observed as both a teacher and a parent:

When middle class and affluent students are absent often, the parents know how to work the system. We often notify the school in advance and provide excuses or documentation that satisfy the attendance secretary. This allows our children to be marked excused absent and make up missed work. Even when the absence is clearly not considered excused under MCPS’ own rules, a way is found to kosher it. Our children are excused for family vacations, grandparents’ anniversaries, and attending siblings’ graduations. Mine was excused this year to interview for a summer experience. If our children are struggling with social emotional issues that lead them to be late to school or not go at all on a particular day, we use terms like “school refusal” that present nonattendance as a health issue rather than a behavioral problem. Recently, when DH has a serious health setback, my child’s counselor suggested taking a day off for DD to process.

In my experience, low income families often do not know how to use (or outright manipulate) the system this way. Students return from short illnesses (1-4 days) without the parent note that excuses the days missed. Students do not bring a doctor’s note for longer illnesses (5+ days), even though they may sport a hospital wristband. For students with chronic conditions like asthma, a lot of days may be racked up that should be excused, but just lack the paperwork. Families of low income students, particularly immigrants of color, may not realize that schools do bend rules to excuse absences for trips abroad, graduations, etc. They just know that their child still needs to accompany the family and they hope the teacher will excuse the missed work. They certainly don’t seem to know the magical phrase “school refusal” when their child won’t leave home in the morning. So they get sent scary letters about attendance while the parents of a middle class student with the same or more days absent is not.

I don’t know how to fix this. I do my part throwing starfish back into the ocean by contacting families to beg for notes or bringing up “school refusal” when we have our team meetings and someone uses skipping to characterize certain students’ absences and not those of others. I urge my colleagues to be aware of how our school and their own practices might be inequitable when it comes to dealing with absences that are technically inexcusable. If Larla can be excused for a five day trip to Israel for a cousin’s wedding under the excuse of religious observance, why can’t we do the same for Larla to miss one day for her godmother’s funeral?

All very true, PP.

My child has special needs and sometimes missed school, and there are times I forget or can’t be bothered to notify the school attendance officer. His grades have never suffered because his teachers know he’s a serious student who will make up all work.

However, there does seem to be something extra going on at certain low income high schools. It’s not hard to realize that some students skip school and get a diploma they didn’t study correctly for. To me this says that there should be more school counselors in these schools to provide psychological and emotional support for at risk students.

The article is not about making up work. The article is about missing a semester and then taking an online course for 5 hours to substitute for all the work missed and not turned in. The Post article does not make this clear. MCPS has a way for these kids to do an end run around the classwork.

[Anonymous]

5 unexcused absences could be a social worker call or visit in our system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not MCPS but parents know that nothing will happen if their kid has uneducated absences. I’ve had a student who has missed the equivalent of one school year in the last three years. Nothing has happened. Apparently there are worse cases so get in line. Not surprisingly, this student is below grade level. This is the typical line I get at parent conferences- “Larla doesn’t like to go to school.” Oh yeah? Well it is your job as a parent to send her whether she likes it or not. I would rather stay home and play on my tablet all day too. Most of my conferences end up as us giving out parenting advice.

Not a bad idea. Not every parent knows they can come to DCUM for advice about how to handle these issues. But there are some great tips for motivating kids on various forums here. Keep passing them on.

Meanwhile, do you ever ask WHY the child dislikes school? The answers could be surprising and might inform your own practices as a teacher or policies your school puts in place. A friend taught in a high-poverty, high-trauma HS in Chicago that began PD 1 each day with an Exhale. Students could vent for 15 min about whatever was troubling them. Within two months, tardies decreased, referrals for disrespect and fighting dipped, and teachers reported students were more engaged. Total cost: $0. But they did need 100% buy in. Accordingly, the teachers who refused to do it had their schedules changed so that they no longer taught PD 1. They didn’t have to do the Exhale, but they also didn’t have their planning period adjacent to their lunch (a nice 75 min block to run errands) or at the end of the school day. A few were made enough to transfer at the end of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher here are legit reasons that a kid might be absent from the classroom and get marked absent by mistake. Attendance, behavioral or emotional issues can exacerbate these:
1. Make up testing
2. Meetings with guidance.
3. Meetings with admin
4. Meetings for therapy (speech pathologist, in school therapist, etc.)
5. Field trips
6. Late to class but marked absent since the teacher forgot to change it. Lates are often due to meeting with a teacher after class.

Theoretically, these should not be absences but it really hard to keep up with for attendance secretaries and teachers.

#1 was a big issue for Parcc/Mcap and then Map-r/m immediately after. There were students marked absent who were present and vice versa. Once the office marks a child absent, I can’t override it, even if I see the child sitting in her seat. I do email both the parent and the attendance secretary to let them know the discrepancy. If the parent doesn’t push, it never gets fixed.

[Anonymous]

When I was in MCPS (ok, 20 years ago), 3 unexcused tardies = 1 unexcused absence, and 5 unexcused absences = fail the course.

If someone was out due to medical issues or the like, that was an _excused_ absence so they wouldn't fail the course.

It sounds like these are unexcused absences. Why aren't the rules being strictly enforced? It's unfair to both good students and bad students if the rules being set aren't being followed.

Do these same students skipping school all the time think they can pull the same student when they have a real job? We're not preparing students for the real world if we raise them with that mindset.

[Anonymous]

Of course we ask why. They tell us that school is long and boring. I guess it is compared to watching You Tube videos and playing FortNite all day. We also have chronic latenesses even though the families live within walking distance. The kids are used to being late and when they show up, their attitude is “Well, I’m here!” They don’t come in 10 minutes late. They come in 2-3 HOURS late. Why? Mom/Dad didn’t want to get up early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was in MCPS (ok, 20 years ago), 3 unexcused tardies = 1 unexcused absence, and 5 unexcused absences = fail the course.

If someone was out due to medical issues or the like, that was an _excused_ absence so they wouldn't fail the course.

It sounds like these are unexcused absences. Why aren't the rules being strictly enforced? It's unfair to both good students and bad students if the rules being set aren't being followed.

Do these same students skipping school all the time think they can pull the same student when they have a real job? We're not preparing students for the real world if we raise them with that mindset.

There was a PP on page one who had a great, and nuanced, response to this very issue. When rules are STRICTLY enforced, the burden falls on those with the least capacity to work the system.

But let's take one step back. What is the goal of public education? I would posit the goal is for every child in the system to leave with certain base skills that will allow them to be a functioning member of our society.

Now, if we fail the kid who is late because they were working at their parents' restaurant the night before, and we fail the kid who left school early because they are the emergency contact for a younger sibling who got sick at school, then we are actually failing society as well.

Strict enforcement of the rules works great if your only goal is serving the 75% who turn up to school regularly and on time. But if you want to capture the remaining 25%, there has to be some flexibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course we ask why. They tell us that school is long and boring. I guess it is compared to watching You Tube videos and playing FortNite all day. We also have chronic latenesses even though the families live within walking distance. The kids are used to being late and when they show up, their attitude is “Well, I’m here!” They don’t come in 10 minutes late. They come in 2-3 HOURS late. Why? Mom/Dad didn’t want to get up early.

There’s a lot you can do that isn’t YouTube or Fortnite. Ever create an Escape Room for your students? I did, but you can also download ready to go ones from TPT and other sites. You can play Kahoot. The kids love that and it gives me a formative assessment grade that doesn’t feel like a test to them.

Also, are you providing movement breaks or brain breaks? Again, lots of great ones are free online.

Here’s the thing: you can absolutely adopt and subtly express the attitude that “Kid, you are screwed in life because you had the bad luck to be born to your lazy-ass parents.” Or you can show the kid how to work around that bad luck so they can break the cycle. If my teacher rolled her eyes when I walk in late through no fault of my own (due to being a child), I wouldn’t be so enthusiastic about school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in MCPS (ok, 20 years ago), 3 unexcused tardies = 1 unexcused absence, and 5 unexcused absences = fail the course.

If someone was out due to medical issues or the like, that was an _excused_ absence so they wouldn't fail the course.

It sounds like these are unexcused absences. Why aren't the rules being strictly enforced? It's unfair to both good students and bad students if the rules being set aren't being followed.

Do these same students skipping school all the time think they can pull the same student when they have a real job? We're not preparing students for the real world if we raise them with that mindset.

There was a PP on page one who had a great, and nuanced, response to this very issue. When rules are STRICTLY enforced, the burden falls on those with the least capacity to work the system.

But let's take one step back. What is the goal of public education? I would posit the goal is for every child in the system to leave with certain base skills that will allow them to be a functioning member of our society.

Now, if we fail the kid who is late because they were working at their parents' restaurant the night before, and we fail the kid who left school early because they are the emergency contact for a younger sibling who got sick at school, then we are actually failing society as well.

Strict enforcement of the rules works great if your only goal is serving the 75% who turn up to school regularly and on time. But if you want to capture the remaining 25%, there has to be some flexibility.

This! These are the vulnerable kids that we claim to be most concerned about. Let’s act in ways that are constructive rather than punitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I was in MCPS (ok, 20 years ago), 3 unexcused tardies = 1 unexcused absence, and 5 unexcused absences = fail the course.

If someone was out due to medical issues or the like, that was an _excused_ absence so they wouldn't fail the course.

It sounds like these are unexcused absences. Why aren't the rules being strictly enforced? It's unfair to both good students and bad students if the rules being set aren't being followed.

Do these same students skipping school all the time think they can pull the same student when they have a real job? We're not preparing students for the real world if we raise them with that mindset.

I've been in the education field a long time, and what you've said is the truth. We aren't doing these kids a favor. We should be providing support, mentors, ongoing mtgs with school counselor, visits with the school nurse, and financial assistance for books/materials, etc if needed. We need to be helping these students have a future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
But let's take one step back. What is the goal of public education? I would posit the goal is for every child in the system to leave with certain base skills that will allow them to be a functioning member of our society.

Now, if we fail the kid who is late because they were working at their parents' restaurant the night before, and we fail the kid who left school early because they are the emergency contact for a younger sibling who got sick at school, then we are actually failing society as well.

Strict enforcement of the rules works great if your only goal is serving the 75% who turn up to school regularly and on time. But if you want to capture the remaining 25%, there has to be some flexibility.

Is this really the main cause for all these unexcused absences? Kids working late in their parents' restaurants? I really doubt it.

When I was in HS, I had a few friends whose parents were recent immigrants and worked almost all the time in the restaurant, gas station, or convenience store they owned, all for their kids. The one thing they never did was ask the kids to forego schoolwork to work there. They instead made the sacrifice and worked super-long hours, so their kids could focus on their schoolwork.

Looking at how common the high unexcused absence rate was at Einstein featured in the WP article -- I just really doubt this is due to all those kids working late in their parents' businesses.

[Anonymous]

What happened to the LC policy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
But let's take one step back. What is the goal of public education? I would posit the goal is for every child in the system to leave with certain base skills that will allow them to be a functioning member of our society.

Now, if we fail the kid who is late because they were working at their parents' restaurant the night before, and we fail the kid who left school early because they are the emergency contact for a younger sibling who got sick at school, then we are actually failing society as well.

Strict enforcement of the rules works great if your only goal is serving the 75% who turn up to school regularly and on time. But if you want to capture the remaining 25%, there has to be some flexibility.

Is this really the main cause for all these unexcused absences? Kids working late in their parents' restaurants? I really doubt it.

When I was in HS, I had a few friends whose parents were recent immigrants and worked almost all the time in the restaurant, gas station, or convenience store they owned, all for their kids. The one thing they never did was ask the kids to forego schoolwork to work there. They instead made the sacrifice and worked super-long hours, so their kids could focus on their schoolwork.

Looking at how common the high unexcused absence rate was at Einstein featured in the WP article -- I just really doubt this is due to all those kids working late in their parents' businesses.

True, but many are caring for their little brothers and sisters all night while mom cleans offices. Others oversleep on Mondays because they helped their dad do landscaping jobs all weekend. Maybe an older sibling has moved in with a colicky newborn and no one is sleeping at night in a two bedroom apartment. I’ve taught these kids, but I’m also from that world. I had a job in a restaurant at 12. Not my parents’ restaurant because we weren’t that well off. After work, I might come home to find the power shut off and I needed to use the streetlight to finish reading a book before tomorrow’s English quiz. If I was lucky, there was money to pay the water bill and I could handwash my uniform in the sink and hang it over the bathtub. Everything was ten times harder than it should have been.

[Anonymous]

You are all realizing that the numbers listed are missed classes not missed days. Missing 10 classes is not even two full days. My HSer reports that subs often are terrible at reporting attendance and some teachers too. Yes we should be concerned about 47 missed classes - 10 I am not that worried about.