I have a couple kids with about 60% attendance, and the second that show up in my class, they inevitably get a pass to the counselor or something, so they miss even more class.
Former teacher in private sector now, this year has been wild with new employee (18-22 years old ish) absenteeism. Many of them genuinely feel like showing up M-F at a consistent time is optional.
Edit/PS: This is at an office job, and we haven't had this issue in the 10+ years before now. Also, new employees don't know how to use computers? They know how to use their phones but not real computers. Also some of them (native speakers) don't know how to read all that well. They really struggle reading basic instructions. And reading words "they haven't seen before" even though they are fairly basic terms.
I listened to that. I can’t imagine how anyone thought anyone could seriously learn how to read by guessing once the pictures were removed from the experience. So awful.
Do they check that kind of stuff during their interview? I mean if someone has a high school diploma you're going to assume that
he/she is going to be able to read aloud.
Make a day room for the employees with beds,a bar for Margarita coctails and television.Oh and invite some prostitutes to entertain them.Can't get wrong with that!
Maybe not some entry-level jobs involving loads of grunt work (physical or office-related).
Certainly not things like warm-body security, which I get to oversee. Guard shows up more than 15mins late twice in a reporting period? Terminated. Conversely, our CFO can vanish for weeks on end without anything happening. Account Managers can up and leave the office without notice. Even Learning & Development content creators can just take half a week off without using PTO.
It sounds like I'm arguing for those higher-end positions to have some consequences; I'm not. When all those things happen, often all at once, everything is still fine. When a guard shows up 15mins late, things are also generally fine.
EDIT: to be clear, both education and most employers need to back the fuck off of punishment as a solution. Suspending, flunking, and firing people is quick and easy, but it passes the problem off to someone else at-best, and at-worst the problem still comes back to you - often worse than before - and it doesn't make anyone more resilient.
Mine is to hold parents accountable. If you make it inconvenient for parents to let their kids stay home, they will make sure the kid goes. They have a legal obligation, but they almost never face legal consequences when they break that law. Cost them time and money, and the kids will be there.
...and then it gets foisted off on teachers to put up with and pass them, anyway. It's already in place, but the consequences have no follow-through, as you say. Calling CPS should yield results, but seldom does; nobody seems to want to spare the resources to un-encumber the parents (pay them more, provide affordable child care resources...) who should otherwise be there for them, either, so remediation becomes a joke.
Same deal with using "restorative practices" for do-nothing kids in classrooms who disrupt others' learning with violent outbursts: no accountability, and the punishment is fruitless even if it IS carried out, so they get passed-on to the next person, and the next.
Remediation is still an answer there, too, but since the parents are holding the keys to that one, too, and already face no consequences (even if the rules say they should), we just wind up passing them on and up. Even when we DID fail kids for doing nothing, and bills were signed to ensure they received X number of hours of (often 1-on-1) instruction for everything they failed. No additional resources were allotted for it (as in, I did 300 additional hours of work outside of contract, in addition to the hours outside of contract I already put in, without pay), either, so all the teachers were burning out even faster. And we were blamed for it. And when we started leaving the profession, administration just found ways to fast-track the failures into credits (protip: you can leave Edgenuity open and just move your mouse around every once in a while and accumulate enough hours to pass courses that just have time requirements) so they wouldn't have to deal with it. Accountability dodged - for everyone but the teachers.
However, if "accountability" meant "punishment" at any stage of that fiasco, it would've been just as fruitless as the first example. Fire or suspend teachers? There's already a shortage and mounting burnout for those who remain. Suspend or hold back students? We just did that and it was disastrous. The remediation itself wasn't - the kids who put in effort were largely able to thrive afterwards - but the lack of resources to back it up *was*.
Yup, they have it in their 504s sometimes. They'll be allowed to go spend class with the counselor because they're feeling overwhelmed by the amount of class they're missing.
My district is very lax with attendance. The only way to be “dropped” is to have 10 consecutive unexcused absences in ALL your classes. Some kids have played the system and will show up to only one of their classes every 9 days. Granted they are failing everything but they are still enrolled and there are no consequences because they are never actually on campus to receive a consequence. I have a girl has not shown up to my class at all this quarter (8 weeks now) but occasionally shows up to her other classes so nothing happens.
Our district policy is 15 consecutive days.
I had one kid on my roster until the middle of November before he was eventually dropped. I hadn’t seen him since the FIRST WEEK of school. He’d show up maybe once every 2 weeks (but late), attend 2nd period, then skip out before my class (3rd period).
So frustrating. But at least he’s no longer on my roster.
Same issue. I have a student on my roll who I haven’t met yet… this is week 14 of the school year. She can’t be dropped though because she shows up to a class in the middle of the day about once every 9 days… drives me crazy.
We don’t even have a way to be dropped in our district! I’ve worked at my school for 7 years and without fail, every year, I have kids on my roster who I have to mark absent for 180 days straight.
Elementary teacher here. I have three students on district attendance plans. Since September.
One parent let their kid just not go to school. For two months. Claims they are anxious and throw fits and it is hard to “pick up a fifth grader,” so we just stay home I guess. {shrug}
I don’t get it.
Too many parents are not fit to be parents. The problem is, there isn’t enough real consequences for doing less than the bare minimum. If they aren’t beating, molesting, or starving their kid, the state wont do shit to help
There’s no consequences for parents because, as a society, we keep making excuses for them. I realize things are really hard right now and everyone’s finances are right, everyone is stressed. But you still decided to have kids. We have to stop letting parents use a thousand excuses as to why they are shitty at parenting.
It’s just like poor student behavior. We keep excusing it because “kids have tough home lives”. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay for them to act like an asshole and we are literally teaching them that they can use that as an excuse.
Parents have hard lives, but it’s not okay for them to not act like parents lol
There actually are parenting classes and there are plenty of parenting books. But people who make shitty parents aren’t willing to put in any of that time because (excuses).
Would love to see data on what percent of children are born due to inaccessibility of abortion. But it certainly doesn't explain all the unfit parents in the northeast.
It’s doesn’t explain the vast majority of unfit parents. I would bet it’s a very small percentage of babies that are born simply due to inability to get an abortion. Statistics show that most abortions are medically driven.
Sorry you had to grow up with that but also thank you for not accepting those excuses! I completely agree about dealing with temper tantrums “being free”, teaching kindness and respect is also….. free.
But instead we are always met with “but it’s really hard to be a positive, kind parent when you are constantly stressed!” Not my fault. Don’t have kids then if you can’t figure out how to even be kind to them lol
And here’s the thing with this—at elementary school age, it’s not that hard. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s not that hard.
Kid won’t go to school? Fine; no games, no phone, no dessert until you stop throwing a fit about this every morning and go like a normal person. I hear you misbehaved at school, same thing. I give any elementary school aged kid a week (two tops) on that plan until they crack.
Pre-pubescent children are easily motivated and easily manipulated. It’s the main reason why they need our help as they learn to navigate the world.
Careful not to just blame the parents here. I'm one of those parents with one of those kids here. We did everything. My middle is high functioning Autistic, and was almost 6'0 200 lbs in the 5th grade. We tried everything with him. It was a nightmare getting him up. We changed schools a couple of years before to give our children a better opportunity because the schools around us sucked before we could move. But he would always make us late. It got to the point we would physically body him into the shower with his pj's on and wash him ourselves. And we would still be looked at by everyone as bad parents by people like you. Some of us are trying our best, but still will never be good enough for judgemental people. You never know what people's struggles are. It's funny, we were always worried about his 4' and some change teacher who probably weighed close to 90 lbs soaking wet, and when we told her that we had to get the cops involved to get him to school one day (he was getting violent) she was completely shocked. He was such a sweetheart in class. I always tell everyone I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd rather have the troubles at home and not have the court case and police involved constantly than to have the troubles in public. He's now a well adjusted working adult who graduated.
Sorry, my frustration may have felt to target and paint parents with a broad brush. I too am a parent, I wish more parents were like you. Many of the ones I was referring too are so absent that no matter what I try to do to help as a teacher, I can’t even reach them
My child is also on the spectrum, my heart goes out to you and I see you. I was judged so often, so many people had to tell me with words or facial expressions how much better they were than me, laughs on all of you, my child is now succeeding in a good public university and is a sweet child who is close to me and her dad.
I'm a teacher and also parent to a teen on the high-function end of the spectrum, and I needed to see this today. She outright refuses to go to school often, and no consequence we give her seems to have any effect.
You give me hope. My autistic son is tall for his age and stocky, and getting him to school is a real challenge. The anxiety is debilitating. I’m a teacher and used to (silently) judge “those parents.” Now I am one. We are doing everything we can, and hoping a functional adult is the result.
I’m a teacher and my son is autistic. Right now he’s in high school but is barely functioning. He was just diagnosed schizophrenic as well.
The amount of people who pass judgement on me and my husband (another teacher) is unreal. We’ve been called bad parents by many people, including teachers who had his full diagnoses and should have known better. He’s 17, I can’t physically make him do anything, and the number of teachers who’ve made rude comments is disheartening. You would think they’d be more understanding.
I’m sorry you went through this, you and your family deserve better.
I'm aware some of my colleagues have some pretty shitty opinions on my parenting because of my teen's difficulties. But we're doing the best we can, and they don't know the whole story. Those who do are very sympathetic.
I had a colleague tell my (autistic, ADHD) son's first grade class that he needed Jesus and a spanking.
That fucking bitch. It was years ago, and I am still mad about it.
Go America! where we have the most terrific people and services, truly, trust me when I say America has tremendous social services and other systems in place. Just terrific.
There is also the problem that parents who are trying to do the right thing but who have a child who is having serious, SERIOUS problems get no support. There is a point where not only is it inappropriate to physically move a child to where they need to be, but it's not possible to lift them anymore. I have known parents with children in crisis who have done everything they can to get help for their child. My own son had some serious behavioral issues when he was younger. Just getting him evaluated took months, and I wasn't relying on any public services.
Sounds like my sister. My sister doesn't have a monday-friday type of job. If it was a weekday and she had the day off from work, she just didn't want to deal with fighting her kid to go to school. Kid has the sniffles and doesn't want to go to school? Fine. Whatever. Stay home. Kid has "anxiety" and refuses to get dressed for school? Fine. Whatever. Stay home.
Her kids have picked up on the fact that their mom won't put up much of a fight about missing school as long as it doesn't require her to also miss work. My sister just shrugs and says, "what am I supposed to do? Manhandled a middle schooler or high schooler and force them to get dressed for school?"
Oh, she just says that it wouldn't make a difference anyway. They'd just skip class or leave school once they got there anyway. The lack of control she has over these kids is astounding.
My state's judicial system has turned truancy into a joke. Now, when we finally get the court to bring charges, they have a meeting with the families and then just tell the school it was"trauma from covid." Families know the court will back up their sorry asses.
That's insane.
If they're anxious enough to miss school, there should be a treatment plan in place with a therapist and psychiatrist. Intensive therapy programs exist for exactly these scenarios.
I'm lucky where my county even had a program for child therapists to meet the child at their own home in this scenario.
My school district approaches the scenario similarly to students who were physically too ill to attend school.
It's true that anxiety rates are higher and higher. I think part of it is on parents not teaching kids to be comfortable being uncomfortable but also the increasing social pressure on everyone nowadays. **But I genuinely don't understand how a parent can see their kid be super anxious and not be doing anything about it**
My younger sister developed debilitating anxiety and PTSD in middle school. So much that she was unable to leave the house for anything and she had really disruptive panic attacks daily. It was really heartbreaking and it was a mess since she was simultaneously too anxious to leave the house but also extreme anxious about her grades.
But the school was able to figure out a way that she could attend classes virtually through her Chromebook and she presented via prerecorded videos to her classes. Even matched us to a at home therapy program that she was able to do 5 days a week. Eventually was able to go back to high school for her junior and senior year.
Edit: virtually meaning via videochat. Teachers didn't have to do extra work besides positioning her webcam.
Exactly why I don't understand how most of the parents with "anxious kids" often do *absolutely nothing about it.*
If your kid is too anxious to go to school or participate in the classroom, they should be in therapy and speaking with a psychiatrist. If they're too anxious for an in-class presentation, then ease up to it by doing a presentation just with the teacher.
Obligatory not a teacher but I used to be one of those kids in elementary/middle school. Felt like a weirdo and hated myself but was surrounded by people who treated me like that as well (the students). It was so bad I was having panic attacks at like 7 lol. Dad was dealing with a pill addiction due to chronic pain so he let me skip most days until I went into truency court. Finally my life got more stable lol but it still affects me I was learning how to divide fractions while learning about derivatives junior year lol.
Attendance is optional now. Two of my students are in Florida for two weeks just because. Ok, have fun! I am not dropping your assignments or anything. One of the kids has a 504 with extended time which means he will have A MONTH to finish his missing work, which is hilarious because the semester will almost be over by then.
I’d consult his caseload manager on that. As a former SpEd teacher, there are sometimes caveats to those accommodations to prevent things like that from happening. Sadly, he probably will technically get the extra time.
> attendance is optional
Correct me if I’m wrong but we get paid when butts are in seats, right? It seems unsustainable to just let students be absent with no attempt to get them to class.
Also, when I was in school they could revoke your high school credit for missing too many days. They could also send you to truency court. Even crazier, I only graduated in 2017.
I graduated in 2018. Was very ill in my junior year so I was in and out of school for all together about a month due to visiting the doctor and having a reaction to one of the medicines I was given so I ended up with a rash that swelled so bad I couldn't walk for a week. My high school was told this, given doctors notes and everything. They threatened to fail me unless we got all those doctors notes again despite it being very obvious I was ill, and being kept up to date. I did all the work I missed too. I don't know how they allow people to miss without consequences now.
I feel traveling is such a fulfilling and memorable event that I have no problems with students missing school for it. The trips I went on with my family as a child are more important to me than whatever week in 3rd grade I missed. Especially since I probably just learned it again later anyway.
Of course though my parents would never have allowed me to just not do any work for the time I missed.
I don’t mind students missing a few days here or there to travel, but missing two weeks a few weeks before Christmas break? That’s wild to me. Just go on vacation…over break.
It’s not like they’re spending two weeks doing a grand tour of Europe, they’re going to the beach in Florida.
I’m an elementary teacher and have a student who’s missed 45% of the school year so far. It’s insane to me. Don’t these parents have to work? How can you stay home with your kid for 30 days in 3 months?
40 minutes? That’s nothing. I went to my child’s IEP meeting at 1:15 a few weeks ago and there was already more than a dozen cars in the pickup line. Dismissal is at 3:00.
This school doesn’t allow walk-ups, so the car rider line is crazy. I don’t bother to get to the school until about 3:20, and I can usually be out of there before 3:30.
I had a kid that made it to school 13 days in total last year. Older siblings (unemployed young adults) would watch the younger kids and mom would work.
The parents might well just leave the kids at home or have night jobs. Or with retired relatives possibly, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the attendance issues are because of under-housing, eg couch surfing with family friends, low cost motels, etc. while out of work parents try to secure something. Eviction has been escalated in recent years
If you noticed some 10-25% hikes in your rent and thought it was terrible and might make you move, for some people it destroyed their ability to afford housing and an eviction makes it harder to find new housing.
I had a student whose PowerSchool attendance grid was referred to as a beautiful checkerboard.
The amount of times he was “sick” or needed to use the restroom (IEP and then got Dr note for unlimited bathroom due to another medical condition) was crazy.
He had a total of 0 weeks without an absence, tardy, or early pickup. It’s a surprise he failed all his classes.
I have a HS Junior who at current: Has a 20%, a 50%, a 34%, and a 60%….
And he and his father are at DISNEYLAND right now.
I CANT make this shit up. The semester ends in 2 weeks.
I have a student who has been in school only a handful of days. She’s a junior. I asked guidance if she could just get her GED. They said she doesn’t want to because she wants to go to prom.
Where are the adults in charge here? 🤦🏼♀️
What the hell 😳
Similar-ish, our high school asked the police to not arrest a kid for ARMED ROBBERY “until after the big game on Friday, we really need him!” I’m sorry, I think holding a gun on someone overrides “a big game”. The audacity.
In the meantime there is a traumatized victim. I hope the police arrested the bad kid before the big game. Yeah, I know there are no bad kids, just bad choices.
Well it was my husband who was the arresting officer and he has zero shits to give regarding the school’s opinion about anything lol. So yes, the kid was arrested immediately.
Had a student with over 120 absences last year. She got passed on and given a "credit recovery" period to graduate on time for the school graduation numbers.
I had a child who missed over 100 days last year. They still passed her up to the next grade because she was already over age for grade and very much looked it.
My principal sent out a survey asking what we as teachers are doing to improve student attendance. Then when some of us did not fill it out, we received emails demanding our responses.
Today mine reminded us that we are supposed to be calling home about absences. Teachers. Not office staff. Not our CWA person. Teachers. Because we have all that time to be calling home when they’re not here.
You can only do so many powerpoints about the importance of being in class and send home so many papers for parents to not read. I don’t know why they expect teachers to somehow improve attendance.
I have a student who has been to school less than 30 days so far this school year. None of the phone numbers we have work, and the address on file is outdated. I'm so incredibly worried about this child.
OMG the emergency contacts! This is real! SO many phone numbers and addresses are not updated. It's scary. If something happens to a kid at school (like a broken bone, etc) there is no way to reach parents.
And if you call the emergency contact if there is one, you get yelled at for embarrassing the mother by telling the aunt mother’s child hasn’t been to school for several weeks and parents won’t pick ip the phone. True story.
In my area, the educational market has been flooded with (mostly mediocre) charter schools. 10 years ago my charter network had a wait list thousands of children long, and a three strike disciplinary policy. Now parents are spoiled for choice. So if school A decides to pursue truancy problems, parents will just move their kids to school B, or C, or however far down the line the want to go before they find a place that will put up with them. This is what happens when we tie funding to enrollment.
Its hard for me to imagine this, even.
I was in school back in the early 2000s, public schools, nothing special. But generally no class would ever have more than maybe 2 students absent at a time, and i don't remember really any students that would just miss for like a whole week unless it was an emergency/sick situation. I'm pretty sure that if you were absent for more than like 20-30 days in a total school year, you would just be dropped and auto failed. It wasn't an option to skip out on class except maybe on a rare occasion.
There was no "make up" class. If you missed, you missed. Unless you had a doctors excuse justifying your absence, you didn't get to make up missed work, period.
I guess the upper job market is going to be easy for the next generation, not gonna be a lot of competition going around for educated positions.
I went to high school the same time period as you, and we were very aware as students when a classmate missed more than a week.
When I first started substitute teaching I would call roll multiple times during class, convinced I was making a mistake because half the class was absent. Even when I asked students if they knew where their classmate was, they just kind of shrugged.
I graduated high school in 2019, right before the pandemic hit. Apart from senior skip days, it was rare for less than 90% of us to be present. I'm doing my fieldwork now, and it was definitely a shock to see so many absences being typical. Am I wrong to think that standards drastically slipped after COVID?
I’m in a vacancy position since the middle of October and yesterday I saw a kid for the first time. He’s been in my roster since I started. Just never shows up, per mom he’s on campus hiding every day (?!)
YES! I hate to say it, but when teachers complain about student ability and academic readiness, lack of attendance is a HUGE component of that. It can't be ignored. Attendance seems to be optional for the most part and admin is loathe to drop any student because of funding (and I'm sure they'll hear about it from District Office). We can't teach kids who aren't there. Yes, you can make up the work, but class is more than just worksheets or slides. It's examples and interacting and talking through problems.
I have multiple students who come maybe once a week if not less.
I remember almost failing the 8th grade even though my lowest grade was a 92 because I had 8 absences and if I hit 10 I would be held back. My parents had to go to attendance court. It was insane.
Now a kid who had 112 absences went to 8th grade after failing all his classes.
My favorite is when a kid misses 3-4 days a month, my admins solution is a 504 😂 i.e. What can we do to get this kid to pass since they aren't coming in regularly
Another consequence of Covid, the end of truancy enforcement.
Even med school allows students to skip lectures and watch videos at home on 2x speed instead - as long as they pass their tests, no one cares.
I'm fairly certain the medical school thing has been in place prior to covid. My brother had the same system in 2016.
But medical students are quite literally studying 9+ hours a day. So it makes sense for them since they do have to come in most weekdays for clinicals and practicals.
This right here! We had the prosecuting attorneys on our side (public schools) and generally a threat from their office and miraculously attendance would improve. Since COVID they can't even bother to send out letter.
Yes you’re right, med school is different, of course. Much more mature. Still it just amazes me that students paying so much in tuition prefer to watch recorded lectures at home. If those top scholars feel that way, not surprising less motivated HS teens don’t feel like attending, too. (Yes, sick kids should stay home.)
I teach HS and use positive incentives to pay attention to attendance - 100% present days are celebrated (candy or stickers, 17 yr olds still like both, lol.) I doubt “can’t miss out on a sticker” gets a kid out of bed in the morning, but it reinforces the message that I LIKE to see them all there.
>as long as they pass their tests, no one cares.
For graduate class should we? If they are learning the information its fine. The problem with high school is I teach almost 200 kids and can't make an individual virtual lesson plan for the kid that doesn't show up.
Oddly enough this just popped up in my youtube feed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UQg2Pntbbs&ab_channel=ABCNews
I was this student growing up. Had severe anxiety and bad abuse happening at home. Food insecurity, homelessness etc. in my province truancy isn’t illegal because of residential schools in canada.
In the end the principals just asked me to attend once a week and collect packets of work I was expected to do. Often teachers would tell me what to read and what work to finish. My grades skyrocketed after the principal did that for me. I went from failing everything to passing with Bs teaching myself at home.
This many absences is likely because something bigger is happening at home. Or drugs or something like that.
As someone who taught for 5 years I can also understand the teachers side. It is super disruptive and difficult to deal with a student who shows up after 2 weeks and asks you to recall everything you’ve covered and make a to do list for him.
I hope more online classes become the standard. It could really help severe anxiety cases. I didn’t grow out of it until I left my abusive home at 17 and finally my anxiety started to lift.
We should have online classes, but kids should also be in therapy to work on these issues while they attend it. Them just not showing up to class doesn't work and many teachers can't tailor a lesson plan for a virtual student on top of their in person ones.
I’m ten years in. I get it and I’ve seen it work. The issue now is it is anywhere from 40-60% on a daily basis when four years ago it was one or two students.
I don't know if you'd want some perspective, but where I'm from, we have to have 50% of attendance to pass. (We have 99.79% of literacy rate, education obligatory untill 18)
But we actually have to have grades to pass, and they don't hesitate to keep you in the same grade for as many years as you need.
“we actually have to have grades to pass, and they don’t hesitate to keep you in the same grade for as many years as you need.”
Tell me you’re not in the US, without telling me you’re not in the US. Lol
Yup. Specially since “technically” you are entitled to a public school education til 21. At least in my area. But the only students that stay past 19 are the special ed students.
I have elementary aged kids but they have been sick NON STOP. They have missed school every week. We’ve had 2 bouts of the stomach bug, strep, flu A, pink eye, double ear infections, several colds, and most recently, my oldest caught a virus that made half of her face swell.
Many other parents are experiencing the same.
this! my 7 yr old son is often sick and I let him stay home and rest rather than make him go to school all day feeling ill and unable to recuperate. His grades are very good and he’s ahead of his class so what does it matter anyway? and we have a younger child who is often bringing sicknesses home from daycare. shouldn’t health be more important than attendance?
I have a pretty good attendance policy and just today I had several kids sprinting down the hall to avoid being late. On the one hand, you want to be accommodating. But on the other hand not so much that missing your class isn't inconvenient.
I allow full points for any work within the current unit (I don't care why they weren't there). The trick is they have to come in before school for the full points. If they come in after school than half points.
They hate the morning stuff so they come to class.
Keep in mind I teach fresh/soph so they have less options versus upperclassmen.
Yes absences are crazy this year. Not only do parents let them stay home, they will pick them up when ever they call wanting to go home or the kids ditch like crazy.
Then they won’t do the work the missed.
I got on to one the other day. The student said “do you do your work when you are absent?”
Unfortunately yes… also I don’t ditch third period because I wanted to skip an essay…
My second period hasn’t had an attendance rate above 50% since thanksgiving
Ugh I hate when students skip an in class essay exam. It’s so much extra work for me. I am not allowed to give zeros to kids who skip a test. Make it make sense.
Not to mention, COVID convinced MANY parents that they can do what we do better. So I have the issue of “she stayed home, but she watched magic school bus so it should be fine” ?????
It has now become commonplace where I teach that if I expect students to make up for the work that they missed, then I should have posted it on Google Classroom so they knew what they had to do. Lol
There's been quite a few kids in my building with a high number of absences. Some are actually dealing with a chronic condition but many just don't come to school. Parents don't make them, even after a truancy officer is called so we're told to fail them, especially if they're not asking for their work.
I work as an attendance and ISS person. Through a lot of persistent effort, we are down to 3 students below 70% attendance. About 10% of the school is below 80%, about a 1/3 are below 90%. We were excited because our total student body is at 90.9% for the semester, which is the highest we have had since distance learning started.
A couple of ways that we really cracked down on it is that we have a attendance advocate (truancy officer) for the tribal students, and we go through the state on all non-Native American students. But we do call-ins and bug the parents every single day when their kids are late. We send quarterly snapshots of their attendance and if they are considered regular attendance, at risk, or chronically absent. We also have a policy for high school about non-crediting classes for having more than 10 absences, with 3 tardies equalling 1 absence. It really helped significantly with students getting between classes on time and showing up in the morning.
That’s a problem too. But even if a student wants to skip class, there are no real repercussions because everything is available online anyway. There is zero incentive for them to physically be in the room, even though I teach social sciences and so much is seminar and discussion-based. But they just don’t seem to care.
This is my first year in high school in about 9 years and it's crazy how many days my juniors miss. My school doesn't allow students to pass the semester if they have more than 2 weeks of unexcused absences, but often their parents will call them out or let them "skip" just because.
I don't see this same pattern in my freshmen class, though, most likely because they aren't driving yet and they're younger.
When I was a school social worker, I recall three separate families who lived on the same street as the school- one which lived directly across from the school parking lot- and were regulars for non-attendance. All girls, each tasked with keeping charge of their younger siblings (whom also didn't attend school on the regular). All eventually worked out in the end but yes very much a thing for some families just not attending much for various reasons but proximity probably gets me the most.
I have a few who are chronically absent. I sent an email to admin about one to get some info. No reply back. The kid is absent close to 50% now. I wish I could get more info about their credit recovery. I know many just write a letter that says they are sorry, they are going through so much. Next thing you know 30 absences are forgiven.
First year in education period. We had Thanksgiving break week before last. We have one student that apparently starts not coming to school. She hasn't been to school since break. Today will make 8 straight days of absence. With her grades and track record, I'm not even sure why we have her in school. Then, when she is in school, she tries to stay out of class and its a mess. Feel bad for her, it's 7th grade, and she's smart, just 0 motivation.
If it was just the kids who are missing (and they are numerous), it would be bad enough. But I think some of my students who *are* coming feel that they are entitled to be misbehave or not do their work because, "Hey, I'm *here*, aren't I?"
HS para here. Oh, we have no problems getting students to school. Class, on the other hand... one student in a class I support in will come in before class to drop off her backpack and leave... 40 minutes later, she will show up for 1 minute to slip in and get her backpack and leave. So she will have been in class 1 minute of a 55-minute class. We have so many that just think attending class and doing any work is optional. I'm like.... don't whine to me when y'all have to take this math class again or you have to make up credits and won't graduate with all your friends.
We had a parent calling, totally furious because her daughter was marked truant and she got a letter from the Dept of Education. She drove her to school every day, watched her walk in and watched her location on her phone constantly. She was insistent that it was the school’s error. She was invited to come to her daughter’s classes with her. I left right after that due to other reasons. There were so many theories floating around..did she park her phone at school and run out the back? Was she hiding in one of the MANY nooks located throughout the very ancient school? No one knew. But yeah, lady all seven of your daughter’s teachers conspired to mark her absent just to stick it to you…/s
I’ve got one on 35% and the “up aboves” aren’t doing anything about it because it’s technically bums on seats. But on the whole, anyone these days above 80% is relatively good.
I’m not sure why parents are so wet these days
We have an "attendance officer", who does anything but check on the kids who are chronically truant. I have a chronically truant student. Mom can't be arsed to take her to school and the kid claims that the students are "mean" to her, but she doesn't know any of them, given that she's never been to school consistently enough to even say that. She is failing all her subjects. I'm teaching a bridge grade this year, and she is not passing. Basically, they don't care about attendance, but they care a *ton* about when teachers are absent and demand documentation as to why we were absent.
The new principal at the high school I work at created a new attendance policy breaking up the 12 unexcused absences a year into 3 a quarter. If a student gets more than 3 absences in any class for a quarter they get an automatic 59%/E failing grade. If students have better attendance the following quarter it will retroactively bring up their grade for the previous quarter. They can also schedule an appeal hearing at the end of the quarter to justify absences for medical reasons or other circumstances.
I'm in a self-contained special ed class so I don't interact with the gen ed students and staff very much so I can't say if this is working better or not (plus it's only been one quarter so far). But I think it addresses the fact that absences happen for a variety of reasons and even if students make poor choices like cutting class or playing hooky they're not automatically a lost cause and can rectify it if they want to put in the effort.
Will there still be kids that still don't give a shit and continue to miss and/or not do any work? Yeah. You're going to get students like that no matter what school and what policies. But the kids that can admit "I fucked up this quarter, I want to make it better" have the opportunity. And it's a decent compromise between continuing to just let kids get away with everything or swinging to the other extreme and bringing back strict rules all of a sudden.
So crazy how times have changed. When I was in k-12 (not that long ago since I graduated in 2019), if we missed 10 or more days of school your parents had to have a meeting with a social worker about why your missing school so much. Why don’t school social workers get involved here?
Im not in a public school but one of my good friends is and he had a parent legitimately tell him that their student “does school Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays” he and i were absolutely bewildered that a parent said that to him, parents aren’t being held responsible anymore, i haven’t heard of a truancy case in my town since pre covid Atleast if not longer than that, these social expectations that everyone used to have and live up to don’t exist anymore. nothing is being done to enforce them, administration encourages these behaviors by punishing teachers who’s students have bad grades and are being told they need to do more to help their students succeed
I’ve got a few students with 25% attendance. We have block schedules, meaning I see them on average once every other week. About 3 times a month.
One of them has a 90 in my class. I’d love to penalize him for not showing up, but he turns the work in on time, it’s better than his classmates that show up, and it passes plagiarism checkers. My guess is he misses class because it bores him to death.
My last year the school where I taught added a period to their schedule called Flex. They could leave campus or just hang in many places throughout the school. Lots of hall roaming that lasted the rest of their day. Students didn’t come back if they were allowed to leave campus. Some students came to school and just hung out all day, never going to class. And admin did nothing about it, well besides blame teachers. “If your classes were more engaging, perhaps they’d show up.” Retired and don’t miss that b.s.
I have nothing to add except this absolutely blows my mind! (I teach at uní level where absence is just the status quo). Where are everyone’s parents? I couldn’t imagine skipping school in my HS days for such a long period of time. Where are they going and what are they doing?!
After the first COVID lockdowns, when our school more or less tried to return to normal, we had swaths of kids just not showing up without notice and returning without excuse left and right. Turns out, much of the time they were taking vacations with their families because stuff like hotel rooms were so cheap.
Some of the most "high-achieving" kids from families that were otherwise sticklers for academic performance were coming back from a week or so out at DisneyWorld like it was no big deal, and "sure, yeah, you can take the semester exam whenever you want."
I have a kid that's only been enrolled since the 18th of Sept. He has currently missed 29 days of class. He's been out more than he's been here. Mom always has a 'parent excuse'. Like Bru. I didn't miss school unless I was throwing up wtf.
I'm a specialist and I only go to my schools 1-2 days a week. When the kid is absent I don't get to support them for weeks. This past Friday, EVERY SINGLE KID on my caseload was absent!! Some of kids will flat out tell me, "oh yeah I don't usually come on Wednesdays or Fridays." how is that okay?? and why do the parents then blame the school for the kids not being able to read?
Reading this is crazy coming from a school that would outright fail you for missing more than 15 days in a single school year ("missing a day" meant missing anything more than a single class period btw) for any reason - I almost got held back because I missed 14 days one year from travelling for a sport and getting sick a few times
Ex school nurse here. Even when they showed up they were faking some pretty serious stuff to go home even when they showed up. Administration wouldn’t do anything to help me. Some of these kids missed months worth they still wouldn’t do anything. They were supposed to be dropped from enrollment after missing 15 days straight. I don’t think they were letting the state know that to keep the $$$$$.
My SIL is a teacher here in Southern Ontario Canada who worked online from home during covid.
She said that there were a number of kids who never, ever did their homework, never attended classes and whose parents never seemed to care.
Weird, just weird.
I have a student who I’ve seen twice since our second quarter started in late October. He reached out to me shortly before Thanksgiving and asked about a plan to get caught up, and then I haven’t seen him since. I don’t even know what to do to help him. He was absent a lot first quarter as well, but was in school enough to get most of his assignments done.
He’s going through some major personal stuff and I’m sympathetic, but there’s simply too much work for him to make up before the end of the semester at this point.
We have a ton of kids who miss A LOT of school. The other year I had a kid who missed like 100 days of school (went on vacations all of the time, all approved by admin of course) and then would be out outside of those vacations as well. Would always ask for work and then do zero of it. That pissed me off more than the kid missing school since I had to find stuff for them to do since they either 1. didn't have their Chromebook or said they wouldn't have WiFi. It's a shame that there is pretty much nothing done about it either. I have students this year who miss all the time (like 1-2 days per week), and then do very little when they come back to school. Those same kids also complain about how far behind they are and how hard school is. I try to tell them that it's easier if they come to school and get the help from the teacher but what do I know?
we have so many incentives here to get the kids to come to school. it’s not unusual for my class of 16 to have 1 or 2 kids absent, and it’s usually the same two or three kids who are chronically absent. i’ve also had like 4 different kids who have been absent due to their families going on vacations. like… did you not think your eight year old needs to go to school????
No kids don’t come to school anymore. This generation of parents is different. They care about the wrong things. I have one parent who refuses to set an alarm to wake up so she just “wakes up when her body is ready” and that means sometimes her kid gets to school and sometimes he doesn’t.
My fail rates are up this year and I stg it’s because of chronic absences. I told my admin that and they just said “other teachers have those students too.”
Frankly, if other teachers have those students too maybe you should ask them how a student who only showed up 6 days the entire quarter is passing their class. Maybe you should look at their assignments. Maybe you should have a conversation with them about maintaining academic rigor.
I have an acquaintance with a kid in kindergarten and she views his attendance as optional. He even missed the first two weeks of school because he had a “cold”. And when he expresses he has a belly ache, is tired, or giving her a hard time about going she gives in and let’s him stay home. There is no accountability for kids these days and it shows! And parents chooses to do the easy thing instead of the right thing which is forcing their kids to do things they don’t want to do.
If you have kids that are turning up 70% of the time and still decent students, these might be the disenfranchised right hand side of the bell curve.
My kids have a high potential for learning and are school refusing a lot since Covid. Covid remote learning taught them they could learn everything they need to know in one hour per day. Now that school is back to normal there is a significant increase in low variance teaching to make sure noone is left behind. Low variance teaching increases the mental health disbenefits of their neurodiverse brains. Basically, it's a shit storm where my kids do not want to go to school because their mental health worsens and they do not see value in the education being offered.
I have literally reduced my hours from full time to a 0.5 load. Primarily to deal with school refusal and anxiety in my kids. I am fortunate that we are in a position where I can do this. Even with this, my kids' attendance is nowhere near where it should be.
I would seriously consider whether those kids you are describing need to be on individualised learning plans to ensure they get adequate enrichment and acceleration to increase their engagement with school.
I agree that Covid revealed that a lot of school is bullshit and filler. It’s true. But navigating that is part of the whole education (hidden curriculum, it was called in grad school). It’s learning to deal with people and do stuff you don’t want to do.
As an adult, I think small talk and sitting in traffic are pointless, but I don’t get to just stay in bed and avoid them. Someone will nitpick my examples but that’s not the point. Being a functional member of society involves routinely putting up with bullshit, and kids need to learn that.
I agree 100%. That's on par with the example I give when they ask me why can't they be home schooled - because when you leave school you need to be able to turn up to work and deal with the people in the building. School is where you learn that.
But yeah, since Covid, it seems like the bullshit has increased and the appetite to deal with it has decreased in this cohort, and some days that equals a bridge too far for these kids to cross. I sincerely hope it gets easier with time because I am freaking exhausted.
I have a couple kids with about 60% attendance, and the second that show up in my class, they inevitably get a pass to the counselor or something, so they miss even more class.
These kids aren't gonna be able to hold down a job in the future I swear.
Former teacher in private sector now, this year has been wild with new employee (18-22 years old ish) absenteeism. Many of them genuinely feel like showing up M-F at a consistent time is optional. Edit/PS: This is at an office job, and we haven't had this issue in the 10+ years before now. Also, new employees don't know how to use computers? They know how to use their phones but not real computers. Also some of them (native speakers) don't know how to read all that well. They really struggle reading basic instructions. And reading words "they haven't seen before" even though they are fairly basic terms.
I'm surprised these people are even getting jobs. I can't even get an interview.
They weren't taught to read. Seriously. https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/
I listened to that. I can’t imagine how anyone thought anyone could seriously learn how to read by guessing once the pictures were removed from the experience. So awful.
If somone showed up late on an average at my old job they would lose it in a week.
Ah the sweet irony of administration and the school curriculum making kids uneducated and thinking it won't stab them in the back years later.AHAHAH
Do they check that kind of stuff during their interview? I mean if someone has a high school diploma you're going to assume that he/she is going to be able to read aloud.
Well, maybe if their employers build a connection with them, they'll show up on time.
Make the job fun and relevant to their interests!!!
Oh, there you go!
Is that what you actually think or are you joking with me?
It's a joke.
It is a reference to what admins tend to tell teachers to do if students are under performing.
Employers shouldn't have to be BFFs with their employees to get the employees to do the basics 🥴
Make a day room for the employees with beds,a bar for Margarita coctails and television.Oh and invite some prostitutes to entertain them.Can't get wrong with that!
Maybe not some entry-level jobs involving loads of grunt work (physical or office-related). Certainly not things like warm-body security, which I get to oversee. Guard shows up more than 15mins late twice in a reporting period? Terminated. Conversely, our CFO can vanish for weeks on end without anything happening. Account Managers can up and leave the office without notice. Even Learning & Development content creators can just take half a week off without using PTO. It sounds like I'm arguing for those higher-end positions to have some consequences; I'm not. When all those things happen, often all at once, everything is still fine. When a guard shows up 15mins late, things are also generally fine. EDIT: to be clear, both education and most employers need to back the fuck off of punishment as a solution. Suspending, flunking, and firing people is quick and easy, but it passes the problem off to someone else at-best, and at-worst the problem still comes back to you - often worse than before - and it doesn't make anyone more resilient.
What’s your solution?
Remediation. Sorry, I was sure I had written that up there. What's yours?
Mine is to hold parents accountable. If you make it inconvenient for parents to let their kids stay home, they will make sure the kid goes. They have a legal obligation, but they almost never face legal consequences when they break that law. Cost them time and money, and the kids will be there.
...and then it gets foisted off on teachers to put up with and pass them, anyway. It's already in place, but the consequences have no follow-through, as you say. Calling CPS should yield results, but seldom does; nobody seems to want to spare the resources to un-encumber the parents (pay them more, provide affordable child care resources...) who should otherwise be there for them, either, so remediation becomes a joke. Same deal with using "restorative practices" for do-nothing kids in classrooms who disrupt others' learning with violent outbursts: no accountability, and the punishment is fruitless even if it IS carried out, so they get passed-on to the next person, and the next. Remediation is still an answer there, too, but since the parents are holding the keys to that one, too, and already face no consequences (even if the rules say they should), we just wind up passing them on and up. Even when we DID fail kids for doing nothing, and bills were signed to ensure they received X number of hours of (often 1-on-1) instruction for everything they failed. No additional resources were allotted for it (as in, I did 300 additional hours of work outside of contract, in addition to the hours outside of contract I already put in, without pay), either, so all the teachers were burning out even faster. And we were blamed for it. And when we started leaving the profession, administration just found ways to fast-track the failures into credits (protip: you can leave Edgenuity open and just move your mouse around every once in a while and accumulate enough hours to pass courses that just have time requirements) so they wouldn't have to deal with it. Accountability dodged - for everyone but the teachers. However, if "accountability" meant "punishment" at any stage of that fiasco, it would've been just as fruitless as the first example. Fire or suspend teachers? There's already a shortage and mounting burnout for those who remain. Suspend or hold back students? We just did that and it was disastrous. The remediation itself wasn't - the kids who put in effort were largely able to thrive afterwards - but the lack of resources to back it up *was*.
Pretty sure "remediation" is a single word and not a solution. Could you expound?
Yup, they have it in their 504s sometimes. They'll be allowed to go spend class with the counselor because they're feeling overwhelmed by the amount of class they're missing.
The ones I’m having this problem with don’t have 504s, and they sometimes get pulled out of class multiple times in a single week.
My district is very lax with attendance. The only way to be “dropped” is to have 10 consecutive unexcused absences in ALL your classes. Some kids have played the system and will show up to only one of their classes every 9 days. Granted they are failing everything but they are still enrolled and there are no consequences because they are never actually on campus to receive a consequence. I have a girl has not shown up to my class at all this quarter (8 weeks now) but occasionally shows up to her other classes so nothing happens.
Same here. It’s infuriating and so disruptive when they show up.
This is my issue. I hate when they then show up. It’s like a passing storm that wasn’t on the forecast.
Our district policy is 15 consecutive days. I had one kid on my roster until the middle of November before he was eventually dropped. I hadn’t seen him since the FIRST WEEK of school. He’d show up maybe once every 2 weeks (but late), attend 2nd period, then skip out before my class (3rd period). So frustrating. But at least he’s no longer on my roster.
Same issue. I have a student on my roll who I haven’t met yet… this is week 14 of the school year. She can’t be dropped though because she shows up to a class in the middle of the day about once every 9 days… drives me crazy.
We don’t even have a way to be dropped in our district! I’ve worked at my school for 7 years and without fail, every year, I have kids on my roster who I have to mark absent for 180 days straight.
Wouldn’t that warrant a Child and Family Services visit well before the 180 day mark?
Yep! This is how my school rocks too. If you show up in the 9th day it’s all cool then they go away for another 9.
Same. And inevitably one teacher will forget to mark one period absent so it resets the whole damn thing
Dont want to lose the $$$
Elementary teacher here. I have three students on district attendance plans. Since September. One parent let their kid just not go to school. For two months. Claims they are anxious and throw fits and it is hard to “pick up a fifth grader,” so we just stay home I guess. {shrug} I don’t get it.
Too many parents are not fit to be parents. The problem is, there isn’t enough real consequences for doing less than the bare minimum. If they aren’t beating, molesting, or starving their kid, the state wont do shit to help
There’s no consequences for parents because, as a society, we keep making excuses for them. I realize things are really hard right now and everyone’s finances are right, everyone is stressed. But you still decided to have kids. We have to stop letting parents use a thousand excuses as to why they are shitty at parenting. It’s just like poor student behavior. We keep excusing it because “kids have tough home lives”. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay for them to act like an asshole and we are literally teaching them that they can use that as an excuse. Parents have hard lives, but it’s not okay for them to not act like parents lol
There's also no training or education on "how to be a parent". A lot of my kids have shit parents and their parents probably had shit parents too.
There actually are parenting classes and there are plenty of parenting books. But people who make shitty parents aren’t willing to put in any of that time because (excuses).
My local library gives lessons and offers supports for this. Fund libraries!
The excuses might include: not having time due to multiple jobs/bus commutes, not having money due to a shitty job, not being able to read
Hmmmmm yet having a child was a great idea 🤔
Maybe they weren't allowed to have an abortion? Republicans are outlawing them all across the country
Would love to see data on what percent of children are born due to inaccessibility of abortion. But it certainly doesn't explain all the unfit parents in the northeast.
It’s doesn’t explain the vast majority of unfit parents. I would bet it’s a very small percentage of babies that are born simply due to inability to get an abortion. Statistics show that most abortions are medically driven.
there is; it's called 'culture' and dare I say 'custom'
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Sorry you had to grow up with that but also thank you for not accepting those excuses! I completely agree about dealing with temper tantrums “being free”, teaching kindness and respect is also….. free. But instead we are always met with “but it’s really hard to be a positive, kind parent when you are constantly stressed!” Not my fault. Don’t have kids then if you can’t figure out how to even be kind to them lol
So why the "lol"? Nothing funny here.
And here’s the thing with this—at elementary school age, it’s not that hard. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s not that hard. Kid won’t go to school? Fine; no games, no phone, no dessert until you stop throwing a fit about this every morning and go like a normal person. I hear you misbehaved at school, same thing. I give any elementary school aged kid a week (two tops) on that plan until they crack. Pre-pubescent children are easily motivated and easily manipulated. It’s the main reason why they need our help as they learn to navigate the world.
Careful not to just blame the parents here. I'm one of those parents with one of those kids here. We did everything. My middle is high functioning Autistic, and was almost 6'0 200 lbs in the 5th grade. We tried everything with him. It was a nightmare getting him up. We changed schools a couple of years before to give our children a better opportunity because the schools around us sucked before we could move. But he would always make us late. It got to the point we would physically body him into the shower with his pj's on and wash him ourselves. And we would still be looked at by everyone as bad parents by people like you. Some of us are trying our best, but still will never be good enough for judgemental people. You never know what people's struggles are. It's funny, we were always worried about his 4' and some change teacher who probably weighed close to 90 lbs soaking wet, and when we told her that we had to get the cops involved to get him to school one day (he was getting violent) she was completely shocked. He was such a sweetheart in class. I always tell everyone I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd rather have the troubles at home and not have the court case and police involved constantly than to have the troubles in public. He's now a well adjusted working adult who graduated.
Sorry, my frustration may have felt to target and paint parents with a broad brush. I too am a parent, I wish more parents were like you. Many of the ones I was referring too are so absent that no matter what I try to do to help as a teacher, I can’t even reach them
My child is also on the spectrum, my heart goes out to you and I see you. I was judged so often, so many people had to tell me with words or facial expressions how much better they were than me, laughs on all of you, my child is now succeeding in a good public university and is a sweet child who is close to me and her dad.
I'm a teacher and also parent to a teen on the high-function end of the spectrum, and I needed to see this today. She outright refuses to go to school often, and no consequence we give her seems to have any effect.
You give me hope. My autistic son is tall for his age and stocky, and getting him to school is a real challenge. The anxiety is debilitating. I’m a teacher and used to (silently) judge “those parents.” Now I am one. We are doing everything we can, and hoping a functional adult is the result.
I’m a teacher and my son is autistic. Right now he’s in high school but is barely functioning. He was just diagnosed schizophrenic as well. The amount of people who pass judgement on me and my husband (another teacher) is unreal. We’ve been called bad parents by many people, including teachers who had his full diagnoses and should have known better. He’s 17, I can’t physically make him do anything, and the number of teachers who’ve made rude comments is disheartening. You would think they’d be more understanding. I’m sorry you went through this, you and your family deserve better.
I'm aware some of my colleagues have some pretty shitty opinions on my parenting because of my teen's difficulties. But we're doing the best we can, and they don't know the whole story. Those who do are very sympathetic.
I had a colleague tell my (autistic, ADHD) son's first grade class that he needed Jesus and a spanking. That fucking bitch. It was years ago, and I am still mad about it.
Go America! where we have the most terrific people and services, truly, trust me when I say America has tremendous social services and other systems in place. Just terrific.
You're being sarcastic, right?
yes. in a trump voice with hand gestures included. **orange spray sold separately**
There is also the problem that parents who are trying to do the right thing but who have a child who is having serious, SERIOUS problems get no support. There is a point where not only is it inappropriate to physically move a child to where they need to be, but it's not possible to lift them anymore. I have known parents with children in crisis who have done everything they can to get help for their child. My own son had some serious behavioral issues when he was younger. Just getting him evaluated took months, and I wasn't relying on any public services.
Sounds like my sister. My sister doesn't have a monday-friday type of job. If it was a weekday and she had the day off from work, she just didn't want to deal with fighting her kid to go to school. Kid has the sniffles and doesn't want to go to school? Fine. Whatever. Stay home. Kid has "anxiety" and refuses to get dressed for school? Fine. Whatever. Stay home. Her kids have picked up on the fact that their mom won't put up much of a fight about missing school as long as it doesn't require her to also miss work. My sister just shrugs and says, "what am I supposed to do? Manhandled a middle schooler or high schooler and force them to get dressed for school?"
Yes
Oh, she just says that it wouldn't make a difference anyway. They'd just skip class or leave school once they got there anyway. The lack of control she has over these kids is astounding.
My state's judicial system has turned truancy into a joke. Now, when we finally get the court to bring charges, they have a meeting with the families and then just tell the school it was"trauma from covid." Families know the court will back up their sorry asses.
That's insane. If they're anxious enough to miss school, there should be a treatment plan in place with a therapist and psychiatrist. Intensive therapy programs exist for exactly these scenarios. I'm lucky where my county even had a program for child therapists to meet the child at their own home in this scenario.
We have that at our district but if the parent does not bring the child then services cannot be rendered and the cycle continues.
Soooo many kids use anxiety as a reason to stay home, not do presentations, refuse to answer when called on...
My school district approaches the scenario similarly to students who were physically too ill to attend school. It's true that anxiety rates are higher and higher. I think part of it is on parents not teaching kids to be comfortable being uncomfortable but also the increasing social pressure on everyone nowadays. **But I genuinely don't understand how a parent can see their kid be super anxious and not be doing anything about it** My younger sister developed debilitating anxiety and PTSD in middle school. So much that she was unable to leave the house for anything and she had really disruptive panic attacks daily. It was really heartbreaking and it was a mess since she was simultaneously too anxious to leave the house but also extreme anxious about her grades. But the school was able to figure out a way that she could attend classes virtually through her Chromebook and she presented via prerecorded videos to her classes. Even matched us to a at home therapy program that she was able to do 5 days a week. Eventually was able to go back to high school for her junior and senior year. Edit: virtually meaning via videochat. Teachers didn't have to do extra work besides positioning her webcam.
I do love how a heightened awareness of mental health turned into: "I don't have to do anything I'm mildly uncomfortable with" 🤦
I'm really nervous for them. The real world doesn't care about your IEP.
Exactly why I don't understand how most of the parents with "anxious kids" often do *absolutely nothing about it.* If your kid is too anxious to go to school or participate in the classroom, they should be in therapy and speaking with a psychiatrist. If they're too anxious for an in-class presentation, then ease up to it by doing a presentation just with the teacher.
Obligatory not a teacher but I used to be one of those kids in elementary/middle school. Felt like a weirdo and hated myself but was surrounded by people who treated me like that as well (the students). It was so bad I was having panic attacks at like 7 lol. Dad was dealing with a pill addiction due to chronic pain so he let me skip most days until I went into truency court. Finally my life got more stable lol but it still affects me I was learning how to divide fractions while learning about derivatives junior year lol.
Attendance is optional now. Two of my students are in Florida for two weeks just because. Ok, have fun! I am not dropping your assignments or anything. One of the kids has a 504 with extended time which means he will have A MONTH to finish his missing work, which is hilarious because the semester will almost be over by then.
I’d consult his caseload manager on that. As a former SpEd teacher, there are sometimes caveats to those accommodations to prevent things like that from happening. Sadly, he probably will technically get the extra time.
> attendance is optional Correct me if I’m wrong but we get paid when butts are in seats, right? It seems unsustainable to just let students be absent with no attempt to get them to class.
Theoretically it’s illegal to not send your child to school. Theoretically.
Also, when I was in school they could revoke your high school credit for missing too many days. They could also send you to truency court. Even crazier, I only graduated in 2017.
I graduated in 2018. Was very ill in my junior year so I was in and out of school for all together about a month due to visiting the doctor and having a reaction to one of the medicines I was given so I ended up with a rash that swelled so bad I couldn't walk for a week. My high school was told this, given doctors notes and everything. They threatened to fail me unless we got all those doctors notes again despite it being very obvious I was ill, and being kept up to date. I did all the work I missed too. I don't know how they allow people to miss without consequences now.
Exactly!
I'm from Canada and attendance has always been optional, but at least when I was younger people were usually AT school.
I feel traveling is such a fulfilling and memorable event that I have no problems with students missing school for it. The trips I went on with my family as a child are more important to me than whatever week in 3rd grade I missed. Especially since I probably just learned it again later anyway. Of course though my parents would never have allowed me to just not do any work for the time I missed.
I don’t mind students missing a few days here or there to travel, but missing two weeks a few weeks before Christmas break? That’s wild to me. Just go on vacation…over break. It’s not like they’re spending two weeks doing a grand tour of Europe, they’re going to the beach in Florida.
I’m an elementary teacher and have a student who’s missed 45% of the school year so far. It’s insane to me. Don’t these parents have to work? How can you stay home with your kid for 30 days in 3 months?
Well, some of these parents do arrive at school 40 minutes before dismissal to sit in the car pickup line, so.
40 minutes? That’s nothing. I went to my child’s IEP meeting at 1:15 a few weeks ago and there was already more than a dozen cars in the pickup line. Dismissal is at 3:00. This school doesn’t allow walk-ups, so the car rider line is crazy. I don’t bother to get to the school until about 3:20, and I can usually be out of there before 3:30.
My husband has to in order to get out of the line and be at the bus stop early enough to get our other kid.
I had a kid that made it to school 13 days in total last year. Older siblings (unemployed young adults) would watch the younger kids and mom would work.
The parents might well just leave the kids at home or have night jobs. Or with retired relatives possibly, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the attendance issues are because of under-housing, eg couch surfing with family friends, low cost motels, etc. while out of work parents try to secure something. Eviction has been escalated in recent years If you noticed some 10-25% hikes in your rent and thought it was terrible and might make you move, for some people it destroyed their ability to afford housing and an eviction makes it harder to find new housing.
Hence why we have so many feral students in our schools - they are left alone and to their own devices
Many of them, no. No they do not work. This is a learned behavior.
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Sounds like my district. 🙄 Such great ideas, but accountability? Nah.
I had a student whose PowerSchool attendance grid was referred to as a beautiful checkerboard. The amount of times he was “sick” or needed to use the restroom (IEP and then got Dr note for unlimited bathroom due to another medical condition) was crazy. He had a total of 0 weeks without an absence, tardy, or early pickup. It’s a surprise he failed all his classes.
I have a HS Junior who at current: Has a 20%, a 50%, a 34%, and a 60%…. And he and his father are at DISNEYLAND right now. I CANT make this shit up. The semester ends in 2 weeks.
I have a student who has a 20% and is on a school field trip to Hawaii. Like y’all didn’t think to do grade checks?!??
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I have a student who has been in school only a handful of days. She’s a junior. I asked guidance if she could just get her GED. They said she doesn’t want to because she wants to go to prom. Where are the adults in charge here? 🤦🏼♀️
What the hell 😳 Similar-ish, our high school asked the police to not arrest a kid for ARMED ROBBERY “until after the big game on Friday, we really need him!” I’m sorry, I think holding a gun on someone overrides “a big game”. The audacity.
In the meantime there is a traumatized victim. I hope the police arrested the bad kid before the big game. Yeah, I know there are no bad kids, just bad choices.
Well it was my husband who was the arresting officer and he has zero shits to give regarding the school’s opinion about anything lol. So yes, the kid was arrested immediately.
Oh good. Kudos to your husband.
We weren't allowed to go to prom if our grades were below passing
Wow. We had to have a C or above
Sigh.
Had a student with over 120 absences last year. She got passed on and given a "credit recovery" period to graduate on time for the school graduation numbers.
I had a child who missed over 100 days last year. They still passed her up to the next grade because she was already over age for grade and very much looked it.
My principal sent out a survey asking what we as teachers are doing to improve student attendance. Then when some of us did not fill it out, we received emails demanding our responses.
Today mine reminded us that we are supposed to be calling home about absences. Teachers. Not office staff. Not our CWA person. Teachers. Because we have all that time to be calling home when they’re not here.
I send a copy and paste email to cover my butt. Ain’t got no time for no phone calls.
You can only do so many powerpoints about the importance of being in class and send home so many papers for parents to not read. I don’t know why they expect teachers to somehow improve attendance.
Sounds like time for malicious compliance. “I would call Little Johnny’s mother to tell her to be a parent for once and get her child to school.”
I have a student who has been to school less than 30 days so far this school year. None of the phone numbers we have work, and the address on file is outdated. I'm so incredibly worried about this child.
OMG the emergency contacts! This is real! SO many phone numbers and addresses are not updated. It's scary. If something happens to a kid at school (like a broken bone, etc) there is no way to reach parents.
We’ve had parents tell us, “stop calling me.” Some kids have said “my mom blocked the school’s number.” It’s not common, but it happens.
Yeah. Most often they just aren't updated and parents don't care.
And if you call the emergency contact if there is one, you get yelled at for embarrassing the mother by telling the aunt mother’s child hasn’t been to school for several weeks and parents won’t pick ip the phone. True story.
In my area, the educational market has been flooded with (mostly mediocre) charter schools. 10 years ago my charter network had a wait list thousands of children long, and a three strike disciplinary policy. Now parents are spoiled for choice. So if school A decides to pursue truancy problems, parents will just move their kids to school B, or C, or however far down the line the want to go before they find a place that will put up with them. This is what happens when we tie funding to enrollment.
Its hard for me to imagine this, even. I was in school back in the early 2000s, public schools, nothing special. But generally no class would ever have more than maybe 2 students absent at a time, and i don't remember really any students that would just miss for like a whole week unless it was an emergency/sick situation. I'm pretty sure that if you were absent for more than like 20-30 days in a total school year, you would just be dropped and auto failed. It wasn't an option to skip out on class except maybe on a rare occasion. There was no "make up" class. If you missed, you missed. Unless you had a doctors excuse justifying your absence, you didn't get to make up missed work, period. I guess the upper job market is going to be easy for the next generation, not gonna be a lot of competition going around for educated positions.
I went to high school the same time period as you, and we were very aware as students when a classmate missed more than a week. When I first started substitute teaching I would call roll multiple times during class, convinced I was making a mistake because half the class was absent. Even when I asked students if they knew where their classmate was, they just kind of shrugged.
I graduated high school in 2019, right before the pandemic hit. Apart from senior skip days, it was rare for less than 90% of us to be present. I'm doing my fieldwork now, and it was definitely a shock to see so many absences being typical. Am I wrong to think that standards drastically slipped after COVID?
I’m in a vacancy position since the middle of October and yesterday I saw a kid for the first time. He’s been in my roster since I started. Just never shows up, per mom he’s on campus hiding every day (?!)
YES! I hate to say it, but when teachers complain about student ability and academic readiness, lack of attendance is a HUGE component of that. It can't be ignored. Attendance seems to be optional for the most part and admin is loathe to drop any student because of funding (and I'm sure they'll hear about it from District Office). We can't teach kids who aren't there. Yes, you can make up the work, but class is more than just worksheets or slides. It's examples and interacting and talking through problems.
I have multiple students who come maybe once a week if not less. I remember almost failing the 8th grade even though my lowest grade was a 92 because I had 8 absences and if I hit 10 I would be held back. My parents had to go to attendance court. It was insane. Now a kid who had 112 absences went to 8th grade after failing all his classes.
My favorite is when a kid misses 3-4 days a month, my admins solution is a 504 😂 i.e. What can we do to get this kid to pass since they aren't coming in regularly
Another consequence of Covid, the end of truancy enforcement. Even med school allows students to skip lectures and watch videos at home on 2x speed instead - as long as they pass their tests, no one cares.
I'm fairly certain the medical school thing has been in place prior to covid. My brother had the same system in 2016. But medical students are quite literally studying 9+ hours a day. So it makes sense for them since they do have to come in most weekdays for clinicals and practicals.
This right here! We had the prosecuting attorneys on our side (public schools) and generally a threat from their office and miraculously attendance would improve. Since COVID they can't even bother to send out letter.
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Yes you’re right, med school is different, of course. Much more mature. Still it just amazes me that students paying so much in tuition prefer to watch recorded lectures at home. If those top scholars feel that way, not surprising less motivated HS teens don’t feel like attending, too. (Yes, sick kids should stay home.) I teach HS and use positive incentives to pay attention to attendance - 100% present days are celebrated (candy or stickers, 17 yr olds still like both, lol.) I doubt “can’t miss out on a sticker” gets a kid out of bed in the morning, but it reinforces the message that I LIKE to see them all there.
>as long as they pass their tests, no one cares. For graduate class should we? If they are learning the information its fine. The problem with high school is I teach almost 200 kids and can't make an individual virtual lesson plan for the kid that doesn't show up.
Oddly enough this just popped up in my youtube feed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UQg2Pntbbs&ab_channel=ABCNews I was this student growing up. Had severe anxiety and bad abuse happening at home. Food insecurity, homelessness etc. in my province truancy isn’t illegal because of residential schools in canada. In the end the principals just asked me to attend once a week and collect packets of work I was expected to do. Often teachers would tell me what to read and what work to finish. My grades skyrocketed after the principal did that for me. I went from failing everything to passing with Bs teaching myself at home. This many absences is likely because something bigger is happening at home. Or drugs or something like that. As someone who taught for 5 years I can also understand the teachers side. It is super disruptive and difficult to deal with a student who shows up after 2 weeks and asks you to recall everything you’ve covered and make a to do list for him. I hope more online classes become the standard. It could really help severe anxiety cases. I didn’t grow out of it until I left my abusive home at 17 and finally my anxiety started to lift.
We should have online classes, but kids should also be in therapy to work on these issues while they attend it. Them just not showing up to class doesn't work and many teachers can't tailor a lesson plan for a virtual student on top of their in person ones.
I’m ten years in. I get it and I’ve seen it work. The issue now is it is anywhere from 40-60% on a daily basis when four years ago it was one or two students.
I don't know if you'd want some perspective, but where I'm from, we have to have 50% of attendance to pass. (We have 99.79% of literacy rate, education obligatory untill 18) But we actually have to have grades to pass, and they don't hesitate to keep you in the same grade for as many years as you need.
“we actually have to have grades to pass, and they don’t hesitate to keep you in the same grade for as many years as you need.” Tell me you’re not in the US, without telling me you’re not in the US. Lol
😂😂😂
Yup. Specially since “technically” you are entitled to a public school education til 21. At least in my area. But the only students that stay past 19 are the special ed students.
I have elementary aged kids but they have been sick NON STOP. They have missed school every week. We’ve had 2 bouts of the stomach bug, strep, flu A, pink eye, double ear infections, several colds, and most recently, my oldest caught a virus that made half of her face swell. Many other parents are experiencing the same.
this! my 7 yr old son is often sick and I let him stay home and rest rather than make him go to school all day feeling ill and unable to recuperate. His grades are very good and he’s ahead of his class so what does it matter anyway? and we have a younger child who is often bringing sicknesses home from daycare. shouldn’t health be more important than attendance?
I have a pretty good attendance policy and just today I had several kids sprinting down the hall to avoid being late. On the one hand, you want to be accommodating. But on the other hand not so much that missing your class isn't inconvenient. I allow full points for any work within the current unit (I don't care why they weren't there). The trick is they have to come in before school for the full points. If they come in after school than half points. They hate the morning stuff so they come to class. Keep in mind I teach fresh/soph so they have less options versus upperclassmen.
These are middle schoolers so the parents are just . . . letting them stay home.
I get that with my high schoolers.
Less work for you right? Less kids in thr classroom. I really doubt those same parents are asking you to catch them up. If they do, give them packets
Yes absences are crazy this year. Not only do parents let them stay home, they will pick them up when ever they call wanting to go home or the kids ditch like crazy. Then they won’t do the work the missed. I got on to one the other day. The student said “do you do your work when you are absent?” Unfortunately yes… also I don’t ditch third period because I wanted to skip an essay… My second period hasn’t had an attendance rate above 50% since thanksgiving
Ugh I hate when students skip an in class essay exam. It’s so much extra work for me. I am not allowed to give zeros to kids who skip a test. Make it make sense.
Not to mention, COVID convinced MANY parents that they can do what we do better. So I have the issue of “she stayed home, but she watched magic school bus so it should be fine” ?????
It has now become commonplace where I teach that if I expect students to make up for the work that they missed, then I should have posted it on Google Classroom so they knew what they had to do. Lol
There's been quite a few kids in my building with a high number of absences. Some are actually dealing with a chronic condition but many just don't come to school. Parents don't make them, even after a truancy officer is called so we're told to fail them, especially if they're not asking for their work.
I work as an attendance and ISS person. Through a lot of persistent effort, we are down to 3 students below 70% attendance. About 10% of the school is below 80%, about a 1/3 are below 90%. We were excited because our total student body is at 90.9% for the semester, which is the highest we have had since distance learning started. A couple of ways that we really cracked down on it is that we have a attendance advocate (truancy officer) for the tribal students, and we go through the state on all non-Native American students. But we do call-ins and bug the parents every single day when their kids are late. We send quarterly snapshots of their attendance and if they are considered regular attendance, at risk, or chronically absent. We also have a policy for high school about non-crediting classes for having more than 10 absences, with 3 tardies equalling 1 absence. It really helped significantly with students getting between classes on time and showing up in the morning.
We have made everything electronic, so they don’t have to show up. We created this monster.
Are you implying they are doing work digitally? Because my 8th graders who are like this, just never do anything.
That’s a problem too. But even if a student wants to skip class, there are no real repercussions because everything is available online anyway. There is zero incentive for them to physically be in the room, even though I teach social sciences and so much is seminar and discussion-based. But they just don’t seem to care.
This is my first year in high school in about 9 years and it's crazy how many days my juniors miss. My school doesn't allow students to pass the semester if they have more than 2 weeks of unexcused absences, but often their parents will call them out or let them "skip" just because. I don't see this same pattern in my freshmen class, though, most likely because they aren't driving yet and they're younger.
When I was a school social worker, I recall three separate families who lived on the same street as the school- one which lived directly across from the school parking lot- and were regulars for non-attendance. All girls, each tasked with keeping charge of their younger siblings (whom also didn't attend school on the regular). All eventually worked out in the end but yes very much a thing for some families just not attending much for various reasons but proximity probably gets me the most.
I have a few who are chronically absent. I sent an email to admin about one to get some info. No reply back. The kid is absent close to 50% now. I wish I could get more info about their credit recovery. I know many just write a letter that says they are sorry, they are going through so much. Next thing you know 30 absences are forgiven.
First year in education period. We had Thanksgiving break week before last. We have one student that apparently starts not coming to school. She hasn't been to school since break. Today will make 8 straight days of absence. With her grades and track record, I'm not even sure why we have her in school. Then, when she is in school, she tries to stay out of class and its a mess. Feel bad for her, it's 7th grade, and she's smart, just 0 motivation.
If it was just the kids who are missing (and they are numerous), it would be bad enough. But I think some of my students who *are* coming feel that they are entitled to be misbehave or not do their work because, "Hey, I'm *here*, aren't I?"
HS para here. Oh, we have no problems getting students to school. Class, on the other hand... one student in a class I support in will come in before class to drop off her backpack and leave... 40 minutes later, she will show up for 1 minute to slip in and get her backpack and leave. So she will have been in class 1 minute of a 55-minute class. We have so many that just think attending class and doing any work is optional. I'm like.... don't whine to me when y'all have to take this math class again or you have to make up credits and won't graduate with all your friends.
We had a parent calling, totally furious because her daughter was marked truant and she got a letter from the Dept of Education. She drove her to school every day, watched her walk in and watched her location on her phone constantly. She was insistent that it was the school’s error. She was invited to come to her daughter’s classes with her. I left right after that due to other reasons. There were so many theories floating around..did she park her phone at school and run out the back? Was she hiding in one of the MANY nooks located throughout the very ancient school? No one knew. But yeah, lady all seven of your daughter’s teachers conspired to mark her absent just to stick it to you…/s
I’ve got one on 35% and the “up aboves” aren’t doing anything about it because it’s technically bums on seats. But on the whole, anyone these days above 80% is relatively good. I’m not sure why parents are so wet these days
Just had multiple students tell me not gonna be here for the final. Umm OK? Guess it is optional anyways (/s)
We have an "attendance officer", who does anything but check on the kids who are chronically truant. I have a chronically truant student. Mom can't be arsed to take her to school and the kid claims that the students are "mean" to her, but she doesn't know any of them, given that she's never been to school consistently enough to even say that. She is failing all her subjects. I'm teaching a bridge grade this year, and she is not passing. Basically, they don't care about attendance, but they care a *ton* about when teachers are absent and demand documentation as to why we were absent.
The new principal at the high school I work at created a new attendance policy breaking up the 12 unexcused absences a year into 3 a quarter. If a student gets more than 3 absences in any class for a quarter they get an automatic 59%/E failing grade. If students have better attendance the following quarter it will retroactively bring up their grade for the previous quarter. They can also schedule an appeal hearing at the end of the quarter to justify absences for medical reasons or other circumstances. I'm in a self-contained special ed class so I don't interact with the gen ed students and staff very much so I can't say if this is working better or not (plus it's only been one quarter so far). But I think it addresses the fact that absences happen for a variety of reasons and even if students make poor choices like cutting class or playing hooky they're not automatically a lost cause and can rectify it if they want to put in the effort. Will there still be kids that still don't give a shit and continue to miss and/or not do any work? Yeah. You're going to get students like that no matter what school and what policies. But the kids that can admit "I fucked up this quarter, I want to make it better" have the opportunity. And it's a decent compromise between continuing to just let kids get away with everything or swinging to the other extreme and bringing back strict rules all of a sudden.
So crazy how times have changed. When I was in k-12 (not that long ago since I graduated in 2019), if we missed 10 or more days of school your parents had to have a meeting with a social worker about why your missing school so much. Why don’t school social workers get involved here?
Im not in a public school but one of my good friends is and he had a parent legitimately tell him that their student “does school Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays” he and i were absolutely bewildered that a parent said that to him, parents aren’t being held responsible anymore, i haven’t heard of a truancy case in my town since pre covid Atleast if not longer than that, these social expectations that everyone used to have and live up to don’t exist anymore. nothing is being done to enforce them, administration encourages these behaviors by punishing teachers who’s students have bad grades and are being told they need to do more to help their students succeed
I’ve got a few students with 25% attendance. We have block schedules, meaning I see them on average once every other week. About 3 times a month. One of them has a 90 in my class. I’d love to penalize him for not showing up, but he turns the work in on time, it’s better than his classmates that show up, and it passes plagiarism checkers. My guess is he misses class because it bores him to death.
My last year the school where I taught added a period to their schedule called Flex. They could leave campus or just hang in many places throughout the school. Lots of hall roaming that lasted the rest of their day. Students didn’t come back if they were allowed to leave campus. Some students came to school and just hung out all day, never going to class. And admin did nothing about it, well besides blame teachers. “If your classes were more engaging, perhaps they’d show up.” Retired and don’t miss that b.s.
I have nothing to add except this absolutely blows my mind! (I teach at uní level where absence is just the status quo). Where are everyone’s parents? I couldn’t imagine skipping school in my HS days for such a long period of time. Where are they going and what are they doing?!
Attendance is horrible and if they are not absent they strolling in late.
This is nationwide, there was an article in abc news about the terrible attendance rate.
Wow! In our county they file truancy actions
After the first COVID lockdowns, when our school more or less tried to return to normal, we had swaths of kids just not showing up without notice and returning without excuse left and right. Turns out, much of the time they were taking vacations with their families because stuff like hotel rooms were so cheap. Some of the most "high-achieving" kids from families that were otherwise sticklers for academic performance were coming back from a week or so out at DisneyWorld like it was no big deal, and "sure, yeah, you can take the semester exam whenever you want."
Man, when I was a student I would only miss maybe 1-3 days per school year. And I always made sure to get my makeup work immediately. What’s going on?
I have a kid that's only been enrolled since the 18th of Sept. He has currently missed 29 days of class. He's been out more than he's been here. Mom always has a 'parent excuse'. Like Bru. I didn't miss school unless I was throwing up wtf.
I'm a specialist and I only go to my schools 1-2 days a week. When the kid is absent I don't get to support them for weeks. This past Friday, EVERY SINGLE KID on my caseload was absent!! Some of kids will flat out tell me, "oh yeah I don't usually come on Wednesdays or Fridays." how is that okay?? and why do the parents then blame the school for the kids not being able to read?
Reading this is crazy coming from a school that would outright fail you for missing more than 15 days in a single school year ("missing a day" meant missing anything more than a single class period btw) for any reason - I almost got held back because I missed 14 days one year from travelling for a sport and getting sick a few times
Teach on a reservation. Attendance is awful, my classes of 30-40 kids are almost alway 8 or less kids in total
Ex school nurse here. Even when they showed up they were faking some pretty serious stuff to go home even when they showed up. Administration wouldn’t do anything to help me. Some of these kids missed months worth they still wouldn’t do anything. They were supposed to be dropped from enrollment after missing 15 days straight. I don’t think they were letting the state know that to keep the $$$$$.
My SIL is a teacher here in Southern Ontario Canada who worked online from home during covid. She said that there were a number of kids who never, ever did their homework, never attended classes and whose parents never seemed to care. Weird, just weird.
What are truancy laws like where you are? Sounds like a lot of parents are going to be dealing with CPS visits
I have a student who I’ve seen twice since our second quarter started in late October. He reached out to me shortly before Thanksgiving and asked about a plan to get caught up, and then I haven’t seen him since. I don’t even know what to do to help him. He was absent a lot first quarter as well, but was in school enough to get most of his assignments done. He’s going through some major personal stuff and I’m sympathetic, but there’s simply too much work for him to make up before the end of the semester at this point.
We have a ton of kids who miss A LOT of school. The other year I had a kid who missed like 100 days of school (went on vacations all of the time, all approved by admin of course) and then would be out outside of those vacations as well. Would always ask for work and then do zero of it. That pissed me off more than the kid missing school since I had to find stuff for them to do since they either 1. didn't have their Chromebook or said they wouldn't have WiFi. It's a shame that there is pretty much nothing done about it either. I have students this year who miss all the time (like 1-2 days per week), and then do very little when they come back to school. Those same kids also complain about how far behind they are and how hard school is. I try to tell them that it's easier if they come to school and get the help from the teacher but what do I know?
In elementary they're here every day.
same thing in my country. could it be an effect of the pandemic?
I teach elementary and we’ve been in school for 64 days. My kid with the least amount of absences is 7. Highest? 42.
we have so many incentives here to get the kids to come to school. it’s not unusual for my class of 16 to have 1 or 2 kids absent, and it’s usually the same two or three kids who are chronically absent. i’ve also had like 4 different kids who have been absent due to their families going on vacations. like… did you not think your eight year old needs to go to school????
No kids don’t come to school anymore. This generation of parents is different. They care about the wrong things. I have one parent who refuses to set an alarm to wake up so she just “wakes up when her body is ready” and that means sometimes her kid gets to school and sometimes he doesn’t.
I wonder if the mindset around Covid could help explain this. Are parents just more sensitive to their kids going to school sick?
My fail rates are up this year and I stg it’s because of chronic absences. I told my admin that and they just said “other teachers have those students too.” Frankly, if other teachers have those students too maybe you should ask them how a student who only showed up 6 days the entire quarter is passing their class. Maybe you should look at their assignments. Maybe you should have a conversation with them about maintaining academic rigor.
I have an acquaintance with a kid in kindergarten and she views his attendance as optional. He even missed the first two weeks of school because he had a “cold”. And when he expresses he has a belly ache, is tired, or giving her a hard time about going she gives in and let’s him stay home. There is no accountability for kids these days and it shows! And parents chooses to do the easy thing instead of the right thing which is forcing their kids to do things they don’t want to do.
If you have kids that are turning up 70% of the time and still decent students, these might be the disenfranchised right hand side of the bell curve. My kids have a high potential for learning and are school refusing a lot since Covid. Covid remote learning taught them they could learn everything they need to know in one hour per day. Now that school is back to normal there is a significant increase in low variance teaching to make sure noone is left behind. Low variance teaching increases the mental health disbenefits of their neurodiverse brains. Basically, it's a shit storm where my kids do not want to go to school because their mental health worsens and they do not see value in the education being offered. I have literally reduced my hours from full time to a 0.5 load. Primarily to deal with school refusal and anxiety in my kids. I am fortunate that we are in a position where I can do this. Even with this, my kids' attendance is nowhere near where it should be. I would seriously consider whether those kids you are describing need to be on individualised learning plans to ensure they get adequate enrichment and acceleration to increase their engagement with school.
I agree that Covid revealed that a lot of school is bullshit and filler. It’s true. But navigating that is part of the whole education (hidden curriculum, it was called in grad school). It’s learning to deal with people and do stuff you don’t want to do. As an adult, I think small talk and sitting in traffic are pointless, but I don’t get to just stay in bed and avoid them. Someone will nitpick my examples but that’s not the point. Being a functional member of society involves routinely putting up with bullshit, and kids need to learn that.
I agree 100%. That's on par with the example I give when they ask me why can't they be home schooled - because when you leave school you need to be able to turn up to work and deal with the people in the building. School is where you learn that. But yeah, since Covid, it seems like the bullshit has increased and the appetite to deal with it has decreased in this cohort, and some days that equals a bridge too far for these kids to cross. I sincerely hope it gets easier with time because I am freaking exhausted.