Chronic Absenteeism: Poughkeepsie City School District Fighting to Bring Kids Back to School
By Madelyn Kemler
The Poughkeepsie City School District (PCSD) is introducing new initiatives to battle chronic absenteeism in its K-12 public schools.
According to the Poughkeepsie Schools website, “As of Jan. 27, 40.1 percent of district students this school year are considered chronically absent, having missed 10 percent or more school days.”
To combat these striking numbers, the PCSD announced on March 4 its participation in the Everyday Intervention program, designed by EveryDay Labs founder Dr. Todd Rogers, a behavioral scientist and public policy professor at Harvard University. The program utilizes the district’s Student Information System to track attendance data and target students who are at risk of falling behind.
Families with at-risk students receive biweekly “nudges” by text message and mail, which can connect them with an AI-Powered Family Support Bot or a live multilingual Family Support Team to offer support. This personalized style of intervention engages with families by more productive, encouraging means than harsh truancy laws and regulations. The program is used by 2,000 schools nationwide, having prevented over 2 million absences.
“We are loving it. We wish we had it at the beginning of the school year. It saves times for us to track students so we can intervene a lot quicker,” said Kiara O’Loughlin, the school case worker at Poughkeepsie High School.
Chronic absenteeism is a nationwide concern, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created confusion and frustration for parents about when and where to send their kids to school. Chronic absenteeism is categorized as students who miss more than 10% of school days, averaging 15 or more absences. The U.S. Board of Education has deemed chronic absenteeism a “hidden educational crisis” as chronic absences predict poor academic success and even the potential of a student dropping out altogether.
Since the pandemic, student attendance has dramatically fallen in schools nationally, particularly in school districts like the City of Poughkeepsie with students facing socioeconomic disparities, such as economic marginalization and racial/ethnic inequities.
A particular symptom of such disparities is a lack of health literacy. Not only do many families not have access to healthcare services and resources, but they also don’t know when it is appropriate to send their children to school, especially following the ever-changing COVID-19 guidelines for schools. Furthermore, parents who cannot risk missing work to pick up their sick child from school will also defer to keeping them home rather than getting a call from the school nurse.
“Working parents would rather keep their student home or with family than risk them being sent home sick from school with no childcare,” explained Public Health Nurse Nancy Lenhert.
The Dutchess County Department of Behavioral and Community Health has made strides to improve communication with parents about when to send their children to school. Students were sent home with magnets, available in both English and Spanish, to bring home that address when a student was too sick for school. For example, a student can be sent to school with a runny nose or cough, but not if they have a fever higher than 100°F even after taking medicine.
Chronic absenteeism is an ongoing issue, but these new solutions have given the school district new hope in bringing students back to class. O’Loughlin said faculty will have a better idea about the success of the Everyday Intervention program by the beginning of next school year.
“It allows us to keep up with students that have already been on our radar. We’re excited to see the data, especially comparing it with last year.”
