Before the Rochester school district could launch its new
crackdown on chronic truancy, school officials had to clean up their attendance
records and draft a detailed plan of attack. Earlier efforts were stymied by
faulty data, missteps, and a lack of coordination and follow-up. But officials
say that this time they are better prepared to tackle the problem.
Representatives
from the school district, City of Rochester, police department, Monroe County,
and several nonprofit agencies have joined together to form for the first time
a task force to reduce truancy and to improve attendance in the lower grades.
Task force
members met last week to share recently compiled data on attendance. Poor record-keeping
has obscured the truancy problem to some extent, but now that the district has
improved attendance procedures, the magnitude of the problem is clearer.
District-wide,
absenteeism in city schools is staggering. Schools 4, 17, 22, and 30 are the
worst at the elementary level, while East and Charlotte high schools rank the
worst at the secondary level. On average, students in these schools missed 10
percent or more of instruction within the first eight weeks of school.
At School
22, for example, 34 percent of kindergarteners had been absent for at least 10
percent or 18 days of school, and 17 percent had missed more than 20 percent of
school.
The
situation is about the same for the school’s third graders: more than 28
percent had missed at least 10 percent of school. And nearly 18 percent had
missed more than 20 percent of school.
And the
numbers don’t improve significantly in the district’s other elementary schools.
An analysis of nearly 40 mostly K to 6 schools shows that more than 22 percent
of kindergarteners, 21 percent of first graders, 18 percent of second graders,
and 15 percent of third graders had missed more than 18 days of school during
the first eight weeks.
Out of a
total of 10,538 students in kindergarten through third grade, more than 3,000
had missed a critical amount of instruction time. And they are barely a quarter
of the way through the school year.
School
officials say they are confident their data is accurate.
City schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas has
made reducing chronic truancy and improving attendance one of his highest
priorities. He’s engaged city and community leaders in a plan used by the City
of Yonkers that emphasizes good attendance habits in the early grades to avoid
costly intervention and dropouts later.
Chronic
truancy is a bedrock issue directly linked to the district’s low graduation
rate. Students with poor attendance habits in the early grades frequently fall
behind, particularly in reading and math skills. And they are often slow to
develop the self-discipline needed to study and take their education seriously.
And truancy
is a community-wide problem. Officials at last week’s meeting cited research
showing that elementary students with high rates of absenteeism are at greater
risk of becoming involved with the criminal justice system as juveniles.
But as
officials learned in a district-coordinated blitz of door-knocking to find
truants prior to their meeting, identifying the students is only the beginning.
Understanding the underlying causes of truancy and helping families is the real
challenge. And it’s unclear how prepared the community is to deal with the
problems.
Some of the
officials said they heard variations on the age-old ruses students use to stay
home. For example, one student told his non-English-speaking parents that
America doesn’t have school five days a week. And they believed him.
But most of
the problems are not so easily solved. Chronic truancy is often a result of
multiple, converging issues: poverty, poor parenting skills, and health
concerns, for example.
“We talked
to three females who were absolutely shocked that their children were not in
school,” said city Commissioner Carlos Carballada, who took part in the search
for truants.
A visibly
upset Jennifer Leonard, president and CEO of the Community Foundation, said
that at three of her six visits, a severe mental health problem was the main
issue behind the truancies.
And Ed
Lopez, corporate counsel for the district, said he learned that the 18-year-old
male he was looking for was at his pregnant girlfriend’s house. The student’s
mother said she had lost control of her son’s behavior.
The arsenal for getting students back into the
classroom comes with limitations and drawbacks.
County
officials said they can help the district find a current address for students
who may have moved in the city. If the student’s family is receiving public
assistance, the county typically has their current address. The county receives
between 40 and 50 such calls a month from school districts searching for
addresses, one official said.
But
providing mental health services to students and families is more difficult.
There is a shortage of mental health workers in the Rochester area, according
to one county official. So the county and the district may have to pool their
resources.
One of the
biggest concerns officials discussed is the blurry definition of educational
neglect, and when child protective services should be contacted. Neglect is
somewhat loosely defined by the state as “impairment to the child’s education”
due to lack of attendance. Parents are aware of the problem, but they’ve
neglected to take steps to correct it, according to the state.
As part of
their effort, the Yonkers community sent a flyer home to parents, warning them
that not sending their children to school is breaking the law.
Anita
Murphy, the Rochester school district’s deputy superintendent, says the purpose
of the new truancy initiative is not criminalization, but to get families the
help they need.
This article appears in Oct 24-30, 2012.
