Chronic absenteeism is a major issue across the nation, as well as here at South Lakes. Chronic absenteeism is defined as a student missing at least 10% of school, which is 18 days of the typical 180 day school year.
Chronic absenteeism is not a recent issue, however the Covid-19 pandemic has escalated the problem. In FCPS, absences have increased from 10% to 17% as of last year, according to ABC 7. This rise in absenteeism is concerning to FCPS staff, as it’s critical that students are in class and learning. The more classes that students miss, the harder it will be to recover.
“Every day that you miss school has an impact on the foundation of the education you receive, which will ultimately impact your readiness for college or even the work world,” said SLHS counselor, Patrick Tubbins. He also mentioned that missing school gives students a bad mindset that can be carried on into their future careers and missing a day without an explanation can have serious effects in the workplace.
“It seems like students have kind of shifted their priorities,” Tubbins said about the impact of Covid on student absenteeism. Covid has changed the way that many students view school, and it’s becoming less important to them.
“Students are starting to feel like things are flexible when the state and the county do not feel that way,” Mr.Tubbins mentioned. This results in a misunderstanding between the students and the staff as many students think that they can do their work from home, similar to how school operated during the pandemic. However, even students who do the work at home are missing the information given to students in the classroom. Classes are not structured to be entirely homework, so students miss a significant amount of guidance when missing class. The information in school builds on what was taught in previous classes, meaning that missing just a few classes can lower your understanding of further topics very easily.
Missing class can be detrimental to students, making it harder for them to graduate or start a career in the future.
“Attendance and students missing class is the number one reason why students don’t graduate,” said Tubbins. As well as preventing students from graduating, many students struggle with their grades and standardized testing when not regularly attending class. Students who are chronically absent have a much harder time graduating, if they don’t drop out.
“They go through a lot of turmoil when trying to do so,” Tubbins said, “they fall behind and it causes a lot of difficulty.”
Students who are missing lots of school get monitored by counselors and their parents are notified of their absence. Oftentimes, parents may leave home before students do in the morning and not be aware of their child’s absences at school. Counselors talk to parents to ask them to encourage their child to go to school.
Along with help from counselors, FCPS is spending $1.5 million on supporting the families of students who are chronically absent and $500,000 on social emotional learning for elementary and middle school to encourage kids to stay in school. FCPS has also hired 136 tutors to help students who are struggling get their grades up.
It’s also important to note that not only is the pandemic affecting students in FCPS, but the national percentage of chronically absent students has doubled following Covid, resulting in 30% of students in 2021-2022 being chronically absent. Missing class and dropping out also has an impact on crime. Schooling significantly decreases the likelihood of being arrested, according to the American Economic Association.
Student absenteeism is important because showing up is crucial for learning and maintaining good grades. Without being in class, students will have trouble getting into colleges or pursuing jobs. It is important to realize that the decisions made today could have serious impacts on tomorrow.
