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Bowser To Hold Parents Accountable for Absent Students
Bowser To Hold Parents Accountable for Absent Students
By: Kristal Knight
In early April Mayor Muriel E. Bowser has said she intends to offer a proposal that would hold parents accountable for their children’s chronic absenteeism. She said her plan would not include jail time for parents, but rather ways to better address kids who are late and absent too much.
Last November the Office of the State Superintendent for Education (OSSE) released a report that showed 60% of high school students in the District were chronically absent during the 2022-2023 school year. Their characterization meant that a student was absent either part of the day or all day at least ten percent. These numbers are higher than the absentee rates pre Covid and have steadily risen, but are slightly down from the immediate years that followed the Covid school year. According to the report the numbers were as high as 48% during the 2021-2022 school year.
Truancy is also a problem in addition to absenteeism. Pre-pandemic the number of chronically truant students for the 20182019 school year was 30% and in 2022-2-23 that number rose to 37%. DC Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee said he expects the truant and absentee numbers to drop for the current school year and hopes the mayor’s proposal will help address some of the challenges.
Bowser said, “In our system right now, if they make a referral to [the Child and Family Services Agency] or to the courts or to the [Office of Attorney General], nothing happens. So they have then entered into an antagonistic relationship with the family to no good end. So we have to tighten up that system.” She further said she will work with OSSE and the Chancellor and other involved agencies to determine the best solution to put forward that will help.
