Forty percent of 11th and 12th graders are chronically absent in Boston Public schools, reports Naomi Martin in the Boston Globe.
Teachers fear absent teenagers will never complete high school. Photo: Suleman Mukhtar/Pexels
Black, Latino, disabled and English Learner students showed the sharpest rise in chronic absenteeism, defined as missing at least 10 percent of classes, compared to 2019.
“Vania de la Rosa, who teaches ninth grade at East Boston High School, said about half of her students, most of them recent immigrants, disappeared when schools closed in March,” writes Martin.
The teacher believes they are working to support their families.
One in three English learners was chronically absent last fall, an 8-percentage point increase over the year before.
One English learner, Yessica Soriano, 19, who moved two years ago from El Salvador and cooks in a restaurant five nights a week, has faithfully showed up for classes. Yet she understands why many of her peers vanished. The challenge of paying bills, learning a new language, and figuring out how to use computers can feel insurmountable without classmates and teachers around to help motivate them, she said.
“Sometimes I feel like I can’t do it anymore,” she said in Spanish. “I ask God to help me learn better English so I can understand, but it’s been so hard.”
The district is shifting policies that penalizing students for unexcused absences, said Corey Harris, Boston Public Schools’ chief accountability officer. Soon, “chronically absent students will be allowed to complete their coursework after the semester has ended for a passing grade,” writes Martin.
In all grades, about one-third of Black and Latino students were chronically absent, compared to 12 percent of Whites and 9 percent of Asian-American students.
Until last week, only a few special-education students were offered in-person learning. Now K-3 students can attend school on a half-time schedule.
Next year’s proposed budget includes funding for 175 additional family liaisons and social workers.