Barring illness or special circumstances, students are supposed to attend class every day during the school year, which started last month in San Antonio.
For an increasing number of students across the state, that is not the case. More students in recent years are missing large chunks of class after the disruptive COVID pandemic.
While recent efforts have attendance rates up so far this year in the area, the trend concerns local elected leaders, educators, researchers and advocates, who see chronic absenteeism as an early warning sign that can lead to students dropping out or engaging in risky behavior.
Led by Carla Obledo, the presiding judge for the San Antonio Municipal Court, city leaders launched the Attendance Matters campaign Tuesday to combat absenteeism and ensure everyone knows that attendance matters.
“Chronic absenteeism is not just a matter of missed days; it’s a barrier to our children’s future potential,” Obledo said at a press conference Tuesday. “Through the Attendance Matters campaign and our truancy services, we’d like to send a clear message: Every day in school matters, and every student’s success matters.”
The trend is also hurting state funding for districts, which is based on average daily attendance each year.
The campaign will include a range of community outreach efforts, such as distributing flyers and sharing social media posts containing tips for a successful school year, along with a comprehensive list of local community resources available on the court’s website.
Attendance down after COVID
Fear, apathy and health concerns are among the reasons school leaders have heard for the uptick in students missing class, but regardless of the reason, the outcome is the same: students spend less time mastering the subjects they need to move on in school or graduate.
Gerardo Soto, Harlandale Independent School District superintendent, said attendance is actually up this year following a committed effort by staff to build relationships with the community and families.
“I credit that to making more of that social contact,” he said. “Making sure that wraparound services, whatever it is they need — transportation, food … mental issues — that we have a ton of resources that some of our parents don’t know that we can help with.”
Other districts are also starting the year cautiously optimistic, with attendance above 95% for most. In the Edgewood Independent School District, where attendance dipped below 8,000 for the first time this year, attendance was just under 90% as of Tuesday according to numbers provide by the district.
But any days missed can impact students success. Sarah Baray, Pre-K 4 SA CEO, pointed to studies showing the significance of being present to academic success.
“The science of brain development explains the strong link between attendance and student success, not only as indicated by grades and test scores, but also by high school and college graduation rates,” she said. “This is why Pre-K 4 SA focuses on helping families build a habit of regular school attendance from the very beginning of a child’s education journey.”
Internal studies found that Pre-K 4 SA students attended 13 more days on average than those who did not, Baray said.
In addition to academic consequences, students and their parents could end up in civil court for truancy after racking up more than 10 unexcused absences within a six month period during the same school year. Soto said the goal is to help students and parents before that occurs.
“We don’t want to be punitive to our community,” he said.
The Municipal Court also plays a proactive role in preventing absences from turning into truancy through a dedicated team of juvenile case managers, according to campaign organizers.
The team works with schools, students, parents and guardians through multiple steps to facilitate a positive change in school attendance.
A significant issue
Mayor Ron Nirenberg said Tuesday that the issue was significant to every resident of San Antonio.
“When we think of what we don’t want to see with our community, the headwaters for all those issues with our young people is actually whether they show up to school or not,” he added.
That was echoed by Municipal Court Judge Clarissa Chavarria, who highlighted the city’s commitment to addressing attendance barriers, such as mental health care, community services and transportation.
Chavarria told the San Antonio Report that the court works closely with districts to proactively combat issues that could lead to absenteeism.
“The courts are there to help the districts, knock on doors … see where the students are that may have been in the school district last year but didn’t show up at the beginning of the school district this year,” she said. “So, they’re working on trying to find everybody.”
Nirenberg said the city will continue to find ways to help parents get their children to school.
“Attendance matters to every single person whether you have a child or not, if we are going to have a safe prosperous community,” he said, adding that the goal was “not to blame people for the fact that the child doesn’t show up to school, but [to] figure out how we can remove the barriers.”
