I've written about the topic of chronic absenteeism before, defined as missing more than 10% of the school year. It has been widely known for some time that absenteeism spiked after the pandemic, with the percentages of chronically absent students doubling in most places around the country.
Nationally, an estimated 26 percent of public school students were considered chronically absent last school year, up from 15 percent before the pandemic, according to the most recent data, from 40 states and Washington, D.C., compiled by the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute. Chronic absence is typically defined as missing at least 10 percent of the school year, or about 18 days, for any reason...
“Our relationship with school became optional,” said Katie Rosanbalm, a psychologist and associate research professor with the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University.
The expectation was that once schools returned to full time in class instruction, students would also return at rates similar to pre-pandemic norms. But it's not workign out that way. Instead, it's starting to look as if much higher rates of absenteeism might be the new normal.
Have the cultural shifts from the pandemic become permanent?
In the work force, U.S. employees are still working from home at a rate that has remained largely unchanged since late 2022. Companies have managed to “put the genie back in the bottle” to some extent by requiring a return to office a few days a week, said Nicholas Bloom, an economist at Stanford University who studies remote work. But hybrid office culture, he said, appears here to stay.
Some wonder whether it is time for schools to be more pragmatic.
The problem is that when adults are working from home they have a boss or someone who is usually making sure some actual work is getting done. But students who skip school are frequently home alone with no one about to ensure they are making use of the time.
And as we've already seen during the pandemic, remote learning just doesn't work for most kids. In other words, even if you could have the entire school day online for kids who stay home, chances are they won't learn as much as they would if they were in the classroom. So some schools are making an extra effort to make sure kids get to school.
Each weekday morning, just after 7 a.m., Kathryn Sellers runs through a list of five phone numbers. They belong to parents at Pittsburgh Arlington, a nearby pre-K-8 public school.
Sellers, who has been awake since 5:30 a.m., brings a cheerful start to each family's day, even over voicemail. She wishes each one a great day, adding, "I love you" before hanging up.
The nana wake-up calls, as Sellers calls them, are part of a community effort to connect families with the resources needed to ensure their kids get to and from school each day.
In Washington, DC, where absenteeism is close to 50%, the mayor is talking about taking much more aggressive action.
Mayor Muriel Bowser wants parents to be held accountable if their child skips school. D.C.'s truancy and chronic absenteeism rates remain among the highest in the country, with close to half of all D.C. students missing more than 18 days of school...
"We want to make sure all of our system, from courts to Attorney General, are using every tool they have, not to punish parents per se — to make sure they have services they need. if they refuse those services, what are the consequences?" Bowser said.
Concern about absenteeism is higher in DC because the city is also experiencing a teen crime wave. Just last week, three young girls were arrested for a disturbing incident that happened last October. The girls chased an older man into an alley and beat him to death. The crime happened early in the morning, around 1 am, on a Tuesday morning.
When officers arrived, the found a man who had been assaulted. He died at the scene.
He was identified as 64-year-old Reggie Brown, of Northwest D.C...
On Thursday, law enforcement took a 13-year-old Northwest D.C. girl into custody, charging her with second-degree murder.
On Friday, officers arrested two more girls – ages 12 and 13 – who are both from Northwest D.C. They're also being charged with second-degree murder.
As always, I wonder why two 13-year-olds girls and a 12-year-old were out on the street at 1 am on a school night? Where did their parents think they were? Why weren't they in bed so they could get up for school the next day? The local news outlets don't even ask much less answer these questions. But the old saying the devil makes work for idle hands comes to mind. If twice as many kids are chronically absent, chances are good some portion of those kids are getting into trouble in all of that unsupervised free time.
