Absenteeism-reduction measures at Dranesville ES feel like misplaced student pressure

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor at a Title 1 school said their ES is also pushing kids to attend school more also. They were told it is a factor in boosting their school score.

We do know many families who take their ES kids out on vacations in excess of 10 days per year, outside of Spring break as its more convenient for them and apparently, they are the type of families the effort is being aimed at, not the sick kids.

There is a culture of "its ok to take take kids out on family vacations at any time," and they are focusing in on this issue.

Are you saying that the kids who go on vacation for a week are harmed? Is there data to back up a week in the Bahamas hurting a kid academically? I know there are studies showing that FARMS and ELL kids missing school perform poorly academically, but do those studies show the same thing for UMC kids with highly educated parents taking vacation?

It’s not the UMC families that are missing all the days at school.

We take vacations during the school year. Missing 10 days of ES for a vacation is not going to hurt a child academically as long as they're keeping up with math and reading at home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor at a Title 1 school said their ES is also pushing kids to attend school more also. They were told it is a factor in boosting their school score.

We do know many families who take their ES kids out on vacations in excess of 10 days per year, outside of Spring break as its more convenient for them and apparently, they are the type of families the effort is being aimed at, not the sick kids.

There is a culture of "its ok to take take kids out on family vacations at any time," and they are focusing in on this issue.

Are you saying that the kids who go on vacation for a week are harmed? Is there data to back up a week in the Bahamas hurting a kid academically? I know there are studies showing that FARMS and ELL kids missing school perform poorly academically, but do those studies show the same thing for UMC kids with highly educated parents taking vacation?

It’s not the UMC families that are missing all the days at school.

We take vacations during the school year. Missing 10 days of ES for a vacation is not going to hurt a child academically as long as they're keeping up with math and reading at home

You are part of the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor at a Title 1 school said their ES is also pushing kids to attend school more also. They were told it is a factor in boosting their school score.

We do know many families who take their ES kids out on vacations in excess of 10 days per year, outside of Spring break as its more convenient for them and apparently, they are the type of families the effort is being aimed at, not the sick kids.

There is a culture of "its ok to take take kids out on family vacations at any time," and they are focusing in on this issue.

Are you saying that the kids who go on vacation for a week are harmed? Is there data to back up a week in the Bahamas hurting a kid academically? I know there are studies showing that FARMS and ELL kids missing school perform poorly academically, but do those studies show the same thing for UMC kids with highly educated parents taking vacation?

It’s not the UMC families that are missing all the days at school.

We take vacations during the school year. Missing 10 days of ES for a vacation is not going to hurt a child academically as long as they're keeping up with math and reading at home

You are part of the problem.

It's funny how little I care. If school can be randomly cancelled on monday afternoons and kids can barely be in class for a solid week for months at a time, then attendance really isn't a priority for FCPS and I'll treat it the same way for my family

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the school nurse there (a health department employee) has been consulted on any of these measures. Doubtful.

FCPS has pretty clearly said attendance policies for illness are back to pre-pandemic. The fact that some people on DCUM cannot get used to that idea doesn't change it.

Precovid kids still aren’t supposed to come to school when sick, and some children are going to miss due to chronic illness or other issues. Here are all the current reasons your child should stay home: severe coughing, pink eye, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, rash/fever, strep.

Agree this is misplaced. My children have had low level gunk since the beginning of September and we haven’t missed a day, but we would if we had any of the above symptoms.

Disagree. Yes, kids get sick and should stay home and yes, kids are getting sick more and for longer after covid.

But the big problem is parents who have decided that school is optional and have passed that idea on to their kids. It's not a low SES idea either, it's across all SES. It's all over this forum, everywhere. And it harms kids to miss school.

There is data showing that it hurts struggling children, but is there data showing that it hurts high achievers? My kid is in middle school and we're fine with them sleeping in on occasion or leaving early. They do great in school, sit down with khan academy when they don't get a concept in math, read a ton

No, at least not at the secondary level.

That's what you're telling yourself...

Please cite the evidence that it harms high achieving children at the secondary level, then.

It is going to be something that is going to harm your school now that the VDOE has decided that it is a grading factor for a schools health, or how ever they are referring to it, and you can bet that schools are going to be paying more attention to it. I know parents at Dranesville whose kids were pulled at least 3 times in a year for family vacations, I saw the pictures on their FB page. You see people posting asking about how to log in to schoology while abroad and how many days kids can miss school in a row before they are dis-enrolled. I would bet that a solid percentage of the kids considered to have high absentee rates are kids whose parents decided to take January off and visit family or go to Disney multiple times in a year.

Do those trips hurt the kids? Probably not because the parents tend to make sure their kids complete what work they can. Do those trips end up creating extra work for Teachers, who are already overly tasked? Yes.

That’s a lot of words to admit there’s no evidence it’s harming high achievers at the secondary level.

Adding additional strain on teachers, which leads to more leaving the profession.

Does that finally have a first hand consequence for you to stop being entitled and self centered?

No. I'm a secondary teacher and the kids who are keeping up academically and logging in to complete their work when they're home sick has absolutely nothing to do with why most teachers are overwhelmed. We all put everything on Schoology along with due dates. It's no additional work to grade something that was submitted on time remotely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor at a Title 1 school said their ES is also pushing kids to attend school more also. They were told it is a factor in boosting their school score.

We do know many families who take their ES kids out on vacations in excess of 10 days per year, outside of Spring break as its more convenient for them and apparently, they are the type of families the effort is being aimed at, not the sick kids.

There is a culture of "its ok to take take kids out on family vacations at any time," and they are focusing in on this issue.

Are you saying that the kids who go on vacation for a week are harmed? Is there data to back up a week in the Bahamas hurting a kid academically? I know there are studies showing that FARMS and ELL kids missing school perform poorly academically, but do those studies show the same thing for UMC kids with highly educated parents taking vacation?

It’s not the UMC families that are missing all the days at school.

We take vacations during the school year. Missing 10 days of ES for a vacation is not going to hurt a child academically as long as they're keeping up with math and reading at home

You are part of the problem.

It's funny how little I care. If school can be randomly cancelled on monday afternoons and kids can barely be in class for a solid week for months at a time, then attendance really isn't a priority for FCPS and I'll treat it the same way for my family

Can you even hear yourself?

Anyway, good luck to your kids. There's a lot they're going to have to figure out for themselves, since their parents are sabotaging them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher last week I got Covid from a student who was sent with a runny nose. I got a fever and was miserable and missed 2 days of school. Then my assistant got it- 3 days off with a fever. Yesterday the teacher next door to me got it and will miss at least 2 days.
So now of course we don’t have subs and a few short weeks into the school year, we are all exhausted and splitting classes.
So FCPS touting send kids to school with fever free symptoms is going to run their workforce into the ground and it is already running on fumes.

I am not keeping my child home every time he has a runny nose. He has seasonal allergies that start as seasons change and last about a month. He has had them since he was a baby. We were so happy when we could give him toddler allergy medicine because the cough, from post nasal drip, and runny nose finally cleared up for long periods of time. It is the same now and he is 12.

I am not buying a ton of COVID testing kits to check every day if this is a cold or allergies because that would be cost prohibitive. He has a runny nose for almost 6 weeks straight when the seasons change. If you want to pay for 42 COVID tests please let me know. It sucks but that is what it is. I am sure that the runny nose is sometimes a cold and maybe even COVID. If he is lethargic or coughing a bunch or complains of a headache to go with his sniffles, I will keep him home.

I promise I keep him home if he has a fever, stomach ache, vomit, diarrhea or he tells us that he is feeling off. He is not a kid who skivs off school so we trust him when he says something feels off. It has always turned into one of the above listed issues so we are ok with his staying home.

Schools would go ape if parents kept their kid home for every runny nose because of the number of days that they would miss.

I do think it is irresponsible to send a kid with a fever, stomach issues, or diarrhea and I know parents do that. I don’t think sending kids to school with runny noses or an occasional cough is out of place or wrong.

Relax, you are feeling very defensive and that wasn’t the point o fry post, I’m sorry that is what you got from it.

That is fine and you are correct to keep your kid in school with a runny nose ,but i’m just pointing out the cost. People have different family situations as I test because I can isolate from my cancer patient mom.

I’m point out that kids will miss more school being split between teachers etc with the policy change. I understand none of that is your problem except for your kids experience which will be less time with their actual teacher in school, or more time with more kids in the class and more disrupted days for ALL KIDS, not just yours.

I do not hold the parents responsible at all if that is what you are thinking, but I do think principals under pressure saying kids should attend sick is a problem and will be not help the issue.except for their stats for attendance

[Anonymous]

So young children being incorporated into a plan to reduce absenteeism is all about each school being able to show high attendance fo resultant funding. The end doesn't justify the means. Kids shouldn't be policing their classmates.

[Anonymous]

So unlike pretty much everyone else commenting here, I am a Dranesville parent and am very supportive of this effort during the past school year. It was communicated very clearly to parents throughout the school year, there was clear goals and methodologies communicated to teachers and support staff and at the forefront was the care and concern from the administration for the students well-being and success.

Dranesville has a pretty evenly split population between low income Hispanic families and UMC affluent families. The school population has been declining in past years (when my 1st kid started there school population was over 800, now it is hovering around 600). Families area leaving for 2 main reasons - to attend the local Catholic school and to send their kids to the AAP Center school.

The administration was faced with a challenge - lower chronic absenteeism rates - and they did. They targeted the specific reasons on a family-by-family basis and provided the supports needed for each family to get those kids into their seats in the classroom each day. There was no pressure on families to send sick kids to school (seriously? ew). And yes, the primary reasons for chronic absenteeism were 1) families not prioritizing school for their kids for voluntary or involuntary reasons and 2) lengthy vacations.

I'm not sure why so many people are so bent over an administrator facing a challenge and finding a way to successfully overcome it. Good for the principal - the results speak for themselves.

[Anonymous]

Fcps needs to redistrict to spread the population around. We shouldn't have any schools like Dranesville with so much extra space when nearby schools are full and overfull.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fcps needs to redistrict to spread the population around. We shouldn't have any schools like Dranesville with so much extra space when nearby schools are full and overfull.

Back to bussing? No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fcps needs to redistrict to spread the population around. We shouldn't have any schools like Dranesville with so much extra space when nearby schools are full and overfull.

The population of Fairfax County is decreasing. There's no need to worry about overfull schools. The problem will take care of itself. Unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fcps needs to redistrict to spread the population around. We shouldn't have any schools like Dranesville with so much extra space when nearby schools are full and overfull.

The population of Fairfax County is decreasing. There's no need to worry about overfull schools. The problem will take care of itself. Unfortunately.

+1, but it won’t come in time to prevent Sandy Anderson, Michelle Reid, and Thru from doing a lot of damage first with the boundary review.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fcps needs to redistrict to spread the population around. We shouldn't have any schools like Dranesville with so much extra space when nearby schools are full and overfull.

Are the nearby schools over-full? What I’ve noticed is that under-enrollment begets under-enrollment. The entire eastern/central area of the county - Springfield, Annandale, Falls Church, the Alexandria sections of Fairfax County- is mostly under enrolled at this point with a few exceptions. Even some family friendly areas in Burke are decreasing. Having capacity in far western Herndon or in Alexandria does nothing for McLean or Chantilly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fcps needs to redistrict to spread the population around. We shouldn't have any schools like Dranesville with so much extra space when nearby schools are full and overfull.

Are the nearby schools over-full? What I’ve noticed is that under-enrollment begets under-enrollment. The entire eastern/central area of the county - Springfield, Annandale, Falls Church, the Alexandria sections of Fairfax County- is mostly under enrolled at this point with a few exceptions. Even some family friendly areas in Burke are decreasing. Having capacity in far western Herndon or in Alexandria does nothing for McLean or Chantilly.

Dranesville is in the part of the County that has overcrowding in the HS. It feeds into Herndon MS and Herndon HS, which was recently renovated and expanded. The Dranesville poster already explained why enrollment is dropping, the ESOL/FARMs rate is growing and the MC/UMC families are leaving for nearby Catholic schools and other private schools. I know a good number of parents whose kids are in private in this area.

MC/UMC families are moving away from the schools that are Title 1 or near Title 1 or that seem like they will become Title 1 sometime in the near future. This is happening throughout the Herndon area.

[Anonymous]

Borderline criminal that Dranesville is undergoing a renovation to bring the capacity utilization from 80% to 57%. Whoever made that decision should be fired.