Interim OSSE Report on Student Absenteeism

[Anonymous]

You can miss 9 days and be under the 5% guideline. It isn’t that hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:C’mon- my kids miss 5-6 days max especially HS kid. 18 days is a lot. Also look at PARCC correlation. If your kid is missing 18 days and getting 4s and 5s on the PARCC, I guess they are fine. This is not the case for majority of students though.

My HS kid has missed ONE day of school this year and we own a ski house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Report is pretty shocking. This is why graduation rates have gone up - because they will graduate just about anyone not because DCPS is doing anything better. If I was a Ballou parent, I would be outraged at the shenanigans at the school. Principal needs to be fired now but I feel bad as I’m sure there are people involved above her who will escape unscathed.

If a kid is missing that many days, then its clear the parents are all that interested or on top of their kids academic career. I think the parents expect the kids to do all the parenting. THis is the problem.

Some of these students don't have parents.

And for those students and other at-risk students the system should provide the needed wrap-around services, the exceptions to policy, etc.. There were 214 homeless seniors last year compared to the 3800 who were not homeless. So let's not try and negate the argument for more parent engagement by throwing around orphan and/or homeless status. That sort of argument is intended to shame people into not actually addressing a very real problem...the problem of checked out, bad parenting.

Checked out bad parenting is generous. More like addicted, incarcerated, and birthing children they can't afford by the dozen. These social issues are so deep, educatuon is so low in the peioritu scale when yiu can gangbang and prostitute yourself much easier than actually working.

[Anonymous]

OMG folks - does anyone remember Relisha Rudd? Prolonged absence from school for minors should set off alarm bells about their safety. Involve social workers, involve the police. Whatever it takes.

[Anonymous]

I also just listened to Kojo show. Why is the chancellor defending the system and acting like training was the missing link? He is either a dud or a lame political beurocrat hack. This is so depressing. He needs to fire Ballou principal ASAP along with central office folk to really make it clear that he will not put up with this crap. Instead he just reassigns her. His message seems to be don’t get caught when you are doing all this bad stuff trying to make DCPS numbers look better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also just listened to Kojo show. Why is the chancellor defending the system and acting like training was the missing link? He is either a dud or a lame political beurocrat hack. This is so depressing. He needs to fire Ballou principal ASAP along with central office folk to really make it clear that he will not put up with this crap. Instead he just reassigns her. His message seems to be don’t get caught when you are doing all this bad stuff trying to make DCPS numbers look better.

He realizes the problem is bigger than he is.

He'll stick around long enough to get his name out but not long enough for his bad decisions to stick to him. Then he'll flit off to another big-city school system touting his experience in turning DC around. And we'll get a new savior who arrives with scandal nipping at his heels from some other city. It happens like clockwork.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also just listened to Kojo show. Why is the chancellor defending the system and acting like training was the missing link? He is either a dud or a lame political beurocrat hack. This is so depressing. He needs to fire Ballou principal ASAP along with central office folk to really make it clear that he will not put up with this crap. Instead he just reassigns her. His message seems to be don’t get caught when you are doing all this bad stuff trying to make DCPS numbers look better.

He realizes the problem is bigger than he is.

He'll stick around long enough to get his name out but not long enough for his bad decisions to stick to him. Then he'll flit off to another big-city school system touting his experience in turning DC around. And we'll get a new savior who arrives with scandal nipping at his heels from some other city. It happens like clockwork.

Unfortunately I think you are right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seniors also need more days for college visits. DC is invited to a 2 day scholarship interview in Texas, that's 4 days absence minimum

Unless you schedule it aound weekends and no-school days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seniors also need more days for college visits. DC is invited to a 2 day scholarship interview in Texas, that's 4 days absence minimum

Unless you schedule it aound weekends and no-school days.

you don't get to pick your days for scholarship interviews

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seniors also need more days for college visits. DC is invited to a 2 day scholarship interview in Texas, that's 4 days absence minimum

Unless you schedule it aound weekends and no-school days.

you don't get to pick your days for scholarship interviews

Right, but even 4 days away for this gives you 5 other days to be absent without going over 5%.

[Anonymous]

Why is missing 4 days to go on a scholarship interview in Texas more valid than a student missing 4 days to take care of a much younger sibling? To get to a job that's needed to pay the family's food bill or rent? Who are you to judge that?

The schools recognize that some absences are legitimate and others are not for the purpose of truancy laws -- eg excused and unexcused absences.

But when looking at the educational impact of absenteeism -- a missed day is a missed day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is missing 4 days to go on a scholarship interview in Texas more valid than a student missing 4 days to take care of a much younger sibling? To get to a job that's needed to pay the family's food bill or rent? Who are you to judge that?

The schools recognize that some absences are legitimate and others are not for the purpose of truancy laws -- eg excused and unexcused absences.

But when looking at the educational impact of absenteeism -- a missed day is a missed day.

Yea...these kids are missing school to work or take care of siblings. Good one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is missing 4 days to go on a scholarship interview in Texas more valid than a student missing 4 days to take care of a much younger sibling? To get to a job that's needed to pay the family's food bill or rent? Who are you to judge that?

The schools recognize that some absences are legitimate and others are not for the purpose of truancy laws -- eg excused and unexcused absences.

But when looking at the educational impact of absenteeism -- a missed day is a missed day.

Yea...these kids are missing school to work or take care of siblings. Good one!

Did you read the initial NPR report? There are some who are just blowing it off. Others who have to take their siblings to another school and are chronically late -- and given the policy of missing one period decide to skip the whole day. Others do have work conflicts.

Perhaps they are the exception but they are real kids, with real challenges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is missing 4 days to go on a scholarship interview in Texas more valid than a student missing 4 days to take care of a much younger sibling? To get to a job that's needed to pay the family's food bill or rent? Who are you to judge that?

The schools recognize that some absences are legitimate and others are not for the purpose of truancy laws -- eg excused and unexcused absences.

But when looking at the educational impact of absenteeism -- a missed day is a missed day.

And this is where DCPS falls down. Because it takes nuance, which is complicated.

If a kid is missing school because he just doesn't feel like it and no one cares whether he shows up or not, that's one thing. If it's because the parents find the DCPS calendar isn't convenient for their vacation plans, that's another. And if it's because the kid has a crisis in his life that's still another. The appropriate response in each case is completely different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is missing 4 days to go on a scholarship interview in Texas more valid than a student missing 4 days to take care of a much younger sibling? To get to a job that's needed to pay the family's food bill or rent? Who are you to judge that?

The schools recognize that some absences are legitimate and others are not for the purpose of truancy laws -- eg excused and unexcused absences.

But when looking at the educational impact of absenteeism -- a missed day is a missed day.

college visits are excused, but I heard only 3 days per session, at a graduation meeting @Wilson last year. Taking care of siblings isn't on the excuse form, nor can you indicate that it was a school activity which was missed if the teacher doesn't remember to put it in the computer