Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s an enormous problem nationally, and tends to correlate with income. So the poor get further and further behind. And teachers can’t help them if they’re not there.

And this is the problem with MCPS's obsession with closing the gap. I fully support funding poorer schools a little more to help them out, but at some point we're just throwing money at kids and families who don't care. This robs the kids who do care of the education they deserve.

I think all parents care. Some are busy working three jobs and may not realize the negative effects of absenteeism.

You probably believe that and I want to as well but that's simply not true. There's a sliding scale of parenting ranging from abuse and neglect to doing the bare minimum to doing it right all the way over to helicoptering. That aside, at some point we have to cut bait on students who are a massive negative on the school system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s an enormous problem nationally, and tends to correlate with income. So the poor get further and further behind. And teachers can’t help them if they’re not there.

And this is the problem with MCPS's obsession with closing the gap. I fully support funding poorer schools a little more to help them out, but at some point we're just throwing money at kids and families who don't care. This robs the kids who do care of the education they deserve.

I think all parents care. Some are busy working three jobs and may not realize the negative effects of absenteeism.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its ridiculous that I'm getting notified and asked in these letters/messages if there is any way to help reduce absences for my 2 elementary age kids who have been out ill various times this year w fever and respiratory illnesses. They are going after the wrong people. Should be a way to indicate excused absences for illness vs unexcused. So it doesn't trigger a ridiculous notification.

Agreed. The school district needs to get serious about absenteeism and differentiate between students who are ill and those who are skipping.

Attendance requirements flow down from the state. The state does not make a distinction between excused and unexcused absences, so MCPS can’t. One criteria that the state rates schools on is overall absenteeism rate and they also require the school systems to actively push parents to get students to attend.

While there are definitely students who are ILL and shouldn’t come to school, and there are definitely students who are just skipping school, there are also a LOT of students who don’t come to school because they “don’t feel well” and parents write an excuse note. HS is particularly bad and some students clearly use excused absences to miss quizzes and tests or spend a day catching up on assignments that were due. That pattern gets established in MS and ES.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its ridiculous that I'm getting notified and asked in these letters/messages if there is any way to help reduce absences for my 2 elementary age kids who have been out ill various times this year w fever and respiratory illnesses. They are going after the wrong people. Should be a way to indicate excused absences for illness vs unexcused. So it doesn't trigger a ridiculous notification.

Agreed. The school district needs to get serious about absenteeism and differentiate between students who are ill and those who are skipping.

Would be helpful if they actually looked at attendance notes and sent a more relevant letter. "I see your student was absent due to illness. Were you able to download work while they were sick? " etc

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From a practical perspective attendance is optional. Teachers can’t hold students accountable in any way unless they are skipping class while at school.

Seems like my kids' teachers are also absent around 20% or higher.

I recently found 2 of .DCs teachers have been on leave with subs running the classes. Subs aren't submitting grades, assignments, not available for extra help. If parents seem apathetic there is a reason

My kids were out 10 days this year with COVID twice. Unfortunately that's the new normal and impacts these statistics.

Anonymous wrote:It’s an enormous problem nationally, and tends to correlate with income. So the poor get further and further behind. And teachers can’t help them if they’re not there.

And this is the problem with MCPS's obsession with closing the gap. I fully support funding poorer schools a little more to help them out, but at some point we're just throwing money at kids and families who don't care. This robs the kids who do care of the education they deserve.

Anonymous wrote:Its ridiculous that I'm getting notified and asked in these letters/messages if there is any way to help reduce absences for my 2 elementary age kids who have been out ill various times this year w fever and respiratory illnesses. They are going after the wrong people. Should be a way to indicate excused absences for illness vs unexcused. So it doesn't trigger a ridiculous notification.

Agreed. The school district needs to get serious about absenteeism and differentiate between students who are ill and those who are skipping.

My elementary school student learns the same thing over and over and over. I keep sending her, but I see why some parents might not.

The high school I’m at is at 40%. Kids just see a point to come when many assignments are on MyMCPS anyways. If you fail a class just use Edmentum to catch up and click your way through.

It also should be a call from the school rather than a robo-like message from the county.

Its ridiculous that I'm getting notified and asked in these letters/messages if there is any way to help reduce absences for my 2 elementary age kids who have been out ill various times this year w fever and respiratory illnesses. They are going after the wrong people. Should be a way to indicate excused absences for illness vs unexcused. So it doesn't trigger a ridiculous notification.

Our MCPS MS is at 33%.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chronic absenteeism soared after Covid.

The Maryland average went from 20% in 2018 to 31% in 2022.
Montgomery Country went from 17% in 2018 to 23% in 2022.

For comparison:

The Virginia average went from 11% in 2018 to 20% in 2022.
Fairfax Country went from 9% in 2018 to 15% in 2022.

This doesn't even account for excused absences, which are very high in schools with active parents. About ten years ago, MCPS used to have loss of credit for absences, that helped keep some students attending. They once were more committed to home visits from PPWs for chronic absences which got more students attending. They once held parents accountable by contacting CPS. None of this happens anymore because we don't want "bad data" for minority grades.

But the data for minorities is still bad despite this. Math and reading proficiency scores are so low the NAACP called it a crisis. And graduation rates for black and Hispanic kids remain lower than their white counterparts. So if this neglecting and overlooking the problem is an attempt to improve the data for minority kids, it's not working.

Anonymous wrote:Chronic absenteeism soared after Covid.

The Maryland average went from 20% in 2018 to 31% in 2022.
Montgomery Country went from 17% in 2018 to 23% in 2022.

For comparison:

The Virginia average went from 11% in 2018 to 20% in 2022.
Fairfax Country went from 9% in 2018 to 15% in 2022.

This doesn't even account for excused absences, which are very high in schools with active parents. About ten years ago, MCPS used to have loss of credit for absences, that helped keep some students attending. They once were more committed to home visits from PPWs for chronic absences which got more students attending. They once held parents accountable by contacting CPS. None of this happens anymore because we don't want "bad data" for minority grades.