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UPDATED, Oct. 26, 12:03 p.m.: This story has been updated to include comment from D.C.’s Child and Family Services Agency.
In recent weeks, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) and the D.C. Council revealed its intentions to better support low-performing public and public charter schools with coaching and targeted support.
However, some community members, including one who spoke to The Informer, said improving students’ academic performance requires boosting student attendance and better holding accountable parents who let their young ones miss several days of instruction.
Over the past several weeks, teachers and staff at John Philip Sousa Middle School in Southeast have focused their efforts on engaging students who’ve been absent for more than a week since the school year started. They’ve done so through a multi-tier system of support that uses student data to determine, and subsequently meet, their academic and socioemotional needs with the infusion of resources.
However, the community member, who requested anonymity, said that not even their bevy of resources, including the D.C. Public Schools’ (DCPS) Connected School Model, can suffice in filling in the gaps if students are not physically present.
“We are doing interventions and working with connected schools to mitigate [problems stemming from parental] substance abuse but we need parental buy-in,” the community member told The Informer. “There’s no accountability and once students get to [the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA)] phase, there’s nothing we can do. We’ve been told CFSA is overwhelmed with so many cases.”
Exploring Key Causes and Interventions for Chronically Absent Students
A CFSA spokesperson said that the agency addresses all reports of educational neglect.
On Nov. 30, OSSE is scheduled to release its 2022-2023 attendance report.
OSSE’s 2021-2022 report showed that chronic absenteeism in the District reached 48% and truancy reached 42% during the 2021-2022 school year. High-risk students, Black students and Latino students showed the highest levels of absenteeism. The report also found that schools with a higher concentration of at-risk students had lower attendance rates.
During an Every Day Counts! Task Force meeting in September, Chelsea Coffin of the DC Policy Center revealed that school attendance during the 2022-2023 academic year hadn’t reached pre-pandemic levels, even with a 12 percentage point increase from the previous year. She cited an increase in mental health days among students, early dismissal, and illness as new reasons for post-pandemic absenteeism
School attendance is mandatory for students between the ages of 5 and 18. Parents are obligated to ensure that their children attend school and schools have the responsibility of accurately recording attendance.
For several years, students were marked “present” if they attended 80% of the school day. In 2022 however, the D.C. State Board of Education passed a resolution that lowered the threshold to 60% of the school day.
Students who accrue at least 10 full-day unexcused absences at any point of the school year are to be referred to CFSA. The agency will then, through its educational neglect unit, launch a triage and investigative process to determine the likelihood of educational neglect.
CFSA’s educational neglect triage unit is composed of one supervisor and eight family support workers. Between Aug. 1 and Oct. 15 of this year, they have received 172 reports from District public schools and 87 reports from District public charter schools about chronically absent students, a spokesperson told The Informer.
Last school year, CFSA received more than 7,000 reports, the spokesperson wrote in an email.
Long before students accrue 10 full-day unexcused absences, schools are required to make every effort to engage family. Strategies include contacting students’ emergency contact, exhausting community-based interventions, conducting school-based support team meetings, and talking to family members at pickup and drop-off.
In DCPS, parents of chronically absent students receive universal absence letters after three and five cumulative days of excused and unexcused absences. By the seventh cumulative day, parents will most likely receive a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Warning Letter. In situations when students between the ages of 14 and 17 miss 15 cumulative days of school, the student and their family will be referred to the Court Social Services Division and the D.C. Office of the Attorney General.
Parents Take Matters Into Their Own Hands
On Oct. 22, Check-It Enterprises, Play4Lyfe and other organizations hosted the Parental Revival, a conference centered on promoting positive parental involvement.
Nearly 100 participants, many of whom are family members of student-athletes, converged on THEARC Black Box Theater in Southeast where they participated in workshops about dieting, connecting families with mental health services, and better engaging fathers.
Children had a chance to speak with Warees Majid of Yaayme about the importance of effectively communicating with their parents and being on their best behavior. They also took in a few words of wisdom from Acting Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith.
The next day, during a public safety press meeting at MPD Fourth District Station in Northwest, Smith spoke highly about the Parental Revival. She even went as far as to express gratitude for being able to hear directly from overwhelmed parents.
Ron Moten, founder of Check-It Enterprises, said the Parental Revival allowed parents to accept help without shame. He called it an essential step in educating parents and other adult family members about their power so they can be held accountable for their children’s wellbeing.
For Moten, the blame doesn’t totally lie with parents, but government agencies he said have fallen short in holding delinquent children accountable and rehabilitating them. He however encouraged parents to incessantly inquire about their children’s activities and whereabouts and, once in a while, check their room for illegal substances and weapons.
An all-hands-on-deck effort from parents and guardians at the base level can prevent federal government overreach, like what congressional Republicans are attempting, Moten told The Informer.
“Without parents, you have no village,” Moten said.
“How do we get fathers back into the equation? We have to make sure grandparents who step up get the help they need. By the end of the day, you cannot do this without accountability,” he continued.
“When parents are involved in their children’s education, they do better. We cannot let children run our households anymore. They can’t be our best friends. They are our children.”
One Father Asks the Tough Questions
Kenneth Jones, a Northeast parent of two and grandparent of four, said that it takes some parents a long time before they understand the gravity of their choices.
For the last couple of years, Jones has been making up for what he described as his shortcomings as a parent by advising his oldest son about fatherhood. He told The Informer that it’s a task he’s taking more seriously, especially since his grandchildren are scattered across the D.C. metropolitan area.
Jones attended the Parental Revival at THEARC Black Box Theater. As he explained to The Informer, the event brought to mind memories of the court system committing his sons to group homes more than a decade ago.
In speaking about that period of his life, Jones said he should’ve been mentally present and more intentional about how he guided his children. Amid the high truancy rates gripping the District, Jones said that parents should unite and hold each other accountable to their children’s academic success.
“It takes consistency and unity to make things better. I needed to reach out more to better my situation and work on how I interact with people,” Jones said.
“We need to be a part of something to make a difference. I’m raising my awareness to know that we should come together as parents and as a community we should speak up.”
As parent of dcps student, who has been reaching out to staff and teachers with help with my high daughter absenteeism. The school has failed me and my child. Questions, answers, and help went ignored. My ideas and possible solutions went ignored. Upon an investigation of sexual misconduct. Coolidge was held responsible and was ordered to offer counseling to my daughter. With the assistance of my eldest daughter, she found help but was only temporary. As she approaches the age of 18, we are lost.