“I wish they would dig deeper. DCPS, Osse [the Office of the State Superintendent for Education] and DME [deputy mayor for education] Leaders make excuses, blame, and absolve you of responsibility.
“This is a crisis, something must be done.”
The teacher’s Dec. 11 email came on the heels of my Dec. 8 column about the huge number of children in Washington, D.C., who are missing school. State Office of the Inspector General of Education; I reported that over 40% of DC students were chronically absent during the 2022-2023 school year. The picture is even more bleak at the high school level, with 60 percent of students chronically absent and 47 percent refusing to attend school. To be considered chronically absent, a child must record at least 10 of her unexcused full-time absences.
These numbers mean more than 40 percent of D.C. schoolchildren are classified as academically at-risk. Three out of five of my high school girlfriends fit into that category.
And this doesn’t take into account the risks that accumulate when children are not attending the schools they belong to.
Three girls, two 13 and one 12, were arrested last week on first- and second-degree murder charges and charged as juveniles in the death of a 64-year-old disabled man. It was done. The girls had never been arrested before. However, all three had problems with school refusal. One of the 13-year-olds was not attending school at all in 2024, according to court records.
Is there a connection between chronic absenteeism and truancy and carjackings, mass shootings, shootings, stabbings, and deaths? Local leaders say no.
This week, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said she was troubled by absenteeism and problematic behavior among teens and offered several prescriptions to correct the problem. She joins, or maybe I should say “competed with,” D.C. City Councilman Charles Allen (D-6th District), who has come up with his own list of ways to keep kids in school. . As is customary in such matters, each is raising its flag and pushing for reforms. Bowser’s legislation is the Utilizing Partnerships, Community Interventions for Truancy and Safety (UPLIFT) Amendments Act of 2024. Allen’s legislation is the Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy Reduction Act of 2024.
Bowser wins through clumsiness. Both points to flaws in the way the school system and other city officials track and enforce attendance policies.
And both need to delve into enforcement issues. Following the teacher’s complaint, I asked school authorities how many inquiries about “educational neglect” (meaning a parent or guardian does not provide education for a child) had been made in the past two school years. The Deputy Mayor’s Office for Education said that it received 7,059 reports of neglect in the 2022-2023 school year and 4,565 in the 2023-2024 school year, for a total of 11,624 reports. As for the number of investigations that produced substantiated suspicions of neglect of education?DME reported her 115 cases. Of those, 75 were in the 2022-2023 school year. 40 in 2023-2024.
DME provided background information on the process that determines whether reports of educational neglect are accepted or screened. This process requires more rigorous and independent evaluation.
Mr. Bowser and Mr. Allen are collaborating on necessary measures to address violations and instability within the school, and to help explain why children are not participating in class. It also contributes to the city’s lack of substantive response to the situation beyond the school walls.
Allen wants to put more money into early and sustained intervention by teachers and staff in schools with high absenteeism and truancy rates. And it would strengthen reporting on participation in diversionary programs aimed at keeping troubled students out of the court system.
Bowser is in a more demanding position in terms of responsibility. Her approach focuses on young people with the most severe attendance and behavioral problems, and provides both children and their families with mandatory services aimed at turning around their behavior. to participate in a rehabilitation program.
However, neither Mr. Bowser nor Mr. Allen directly mentioned the compulsory school attendance law itself. They should.
It’s that simple. At age 5, all D.C. children are required by law, not by the whims or wishful thinking of their parents, to attend school. They must attend daily until they meet high school graduation requirements or reach their 18th birthday. Parents and guardians have an obligation to comply with the law by sending their children to school. Is there an absence carve-out? Yes, but only to the extent of the law.
Do some students face obstacles while attending or attending school? Yes. Some streets and neighborhoods are unsafe. Transportation costs can be burdensome and difficult to manage. Classes may be difficult. However, some barriers are close to home, and are actually inside the home.
“We know that the safest place for young people is school,” Bowser’s press release said. That can’t be true. It is, or should be, at home.
“Schools are not only the safest places for young people, but they are also trusted, caring places where they can assess their needs and ensure they get what they need to be safe, healthy and happy. It’s also a place to connect with adults,” she said. ” Again, I don’t just say “no,” I say absolutely “no.”
Trustworthy, caring adults who do everything in their power to ensure children have what they need to be safe, healthy, and happy are not in Washington, D.C. schools, but in cafeterias and kitchens, backyards and bedside rooms. I’m here. They are called mother and father. parents. Kinfolk. It’s a so-called family relationship.
A role that has been marginalized. And the holes in the fabric of our communities need to be fixed just as much as the academics within our schools.
It’s about whether this city really wants its young people to always receive what they need.
