Almost half of schoolchildren in New York are constantly skipping school: the authorities are sounding the alarm

The citywide rate of chronic truancy among NYC public school students has risen to a staggering 40%. Writes about it New York Post.

There are 938 students in New York's schools, which means that about 000 children are missing school too much and falling far behind.

But this number is likely an underestimate because students with COVID-19 or in quarantine may be flagged as present if they are logged in online or have had minimal contact with a teacher.

“It seems shocking that the number is so high, but it could be even higher because it’s not always noted that there are no children,” said education watcher Leonie Hameson of Class Size Matters.

This is a major problem faced by cities across the country. In New York City, chronic truancy is when a student misses 10 percent or more of the school year for at least 18 days, for any reason, good or bad.

Truancy often leads to poor academic performance, dropouts, delinquency and substance abuse, child advocates warn.

School Chancellor David Banks told his deputies to stop it.

“There will be more if no action is taken. So we are taking action,” he said.

In 2018-2019, before the COVID-19 crisis, absenteeism was only 26%.

The city's Department of Education does not release data on chronic absenteeism for the past two years.

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The figure is likely worse, with principals saying schools have been advised to mark students with COVID-19 or in quarantine as attending.

“We were told that they should be marked by those present, no matter what,” confirmed the director of the school in Brooklyn.

The Department of Education said children "may be marked as present if they study remotely."

Many safety-conscious families left their children at home in the first weeks after New York City schools reopened to all face-to-face classes in September, Hameson and colleagues said. Since then, nearly 140 students have tested positive by staying at home sick, while countless thousands of their classmates exposed to COVID-000 have been quarantined.

School principals complain that heightened anxiety, depression, fear of bullying, and restrictions on fun after-school activities like sports have also affected attendance.

Education officials, among other things, refer to the policy of the relevant department of education, according to which, with the onset of the pandemic, student attendance is no longer used as a requirement for passing exams.

“They know that everyone will get access,” one director remarked. “So they don’t have to come if they don’t want to.”

"The chancellor's office is focused on reducing chronic absenteeism," said Terrence Pauline, a spokesman for the school chancellor's office. “The main goal is to reduce the current citywide rate of chronic absenteeism from 40% to 30% by June.”

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Each district has been given a target, Pauline said, and schools also have targets. Data suggests that prior to the pandemic, chronic truancy ranged from as low as 10 percent to 50 percent or more across schools and districts.

Other cities also suffer from absenteeism. 46% of Los Angeles, California public school students, more than 200 children, missed at least 000% of the school year, more than double the pre-pandemic number.

“I’ve heard the chronic absenteeism rate is 50% or more since the start of the pandemic,” said Joanna Smith-Griffin, CEO and founder of AllHere, a Boston-based company that helps counties boost attendance.

According to a representative of the Department education of Nathaniel Styer, officials expect the problem to be minimized if more attention is paid to it.

“We are focused on ensuring that every student attends school every day. This includes actively identifying students who are at risk and taking steps to prevent chronic absenteeism. We hope every school representative will make this a priority and provide every student who has difficulty attending with the support they and their families need to complete the year successfully,” Steyer said.