It’s a problem that has been plaguing schools across the country since before the pandemic, but it's only gotten worse since then.
In the Gloversville Enlarged School District, Superintendent David Halloran says their district's attendance has been around 88%. While that may sound pretty good, it's actually leading to a nearly unacceptable graduation rate.
That’s roughly 9 out of 10 kids there a day,’ but when you look at the numbers, you see that we have dozens of students missing dozens of days of school," said Halloran.
“Chronically absent” is the phrase Superintendent Halloran uses. And over time, in each grade level, it’s a problem that can compound:
“... Students become disengaged because they’re struggling with the coursework because they’re not there to absorb and learn,” said Halloran.
As for a solution, Halloran says they try to tailor the method to find the reason for the absence, so they can understand and get the student back in class.
“We have social workers, we have guidance counselors, we put together a Street Team where we go knock on the doors of families who have children that are chronically absent,” Halloran tells CBS 6.
“My personal opinion... COVID didn’t create the issue that we’re facing right now, it just magnified it,” said Andrew Slezak. he’s involved in the district’s efforts to get to the heart of chronic absenteeism by hitting the streets with a group of counselors:
“We’ll get the list of students, print out all the reports, why they're absent, how many absences, everything,” Slezak tells CBS 6.
Slezak says the COVID impact has certainly complicated their efforts as the absences continued.
"The grind" is producing results though, and it's leading to hope for next school year:
“In most cases though, some of the kids see progress after 2-3 weeks, and they feel a lot more comfortable about coming to school on a regular basis,” said Slezak.
Superintendent Halloran is hopeful too. He says he's confident that their absentee percentage will improve next school year.
Halloran says they need to continue to engage with families who are simply not sending their children to class.
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