Recently the School Committee requested information and data about chronically absent students in the Needham Public Schools to help inform the development of new attendance policies. It’s not a pretty picture, particularly post pandemic as absenteeism rates climbed in the Needham Public Schools. We are not alone: Absenteeism has soared across the country since 2020 in schools and in the workplace.
Blame it on COVID, the hankering for remote work, or the stresses of modern family life… Whatever the reason, somewhere along the line learners and workers stopped showing up.
A few weeks ago a principal told me that the mother of an elementary student was not concerned about the 30 plus days of school the child has missed this school year because the mom figures the child will “catch up.” A good friend and colleague who teaches at a prestigious medical school lamented that his students were missing lectures, labs, and classes due to, as he put it, “the sniffles” or a need for a break or extended holiday. “I've never seen anything like it!” he exclaimed.
We need to help young people and their families reset the attendance button, and the Needham School Committee has charged me and the principals with developing policies and procedures that will hold students accountable for their attendance and provide the support they need when they can’t get to classes. The School Committee endorsed the following belief statement that will guide our ever evolving policies and practices in the coming year and beyond:
We believe:
• Learning is a continuous and ongoing process: Regular attendance allows students to stay on track with the curriculum, avoiding gaps that can be difficult to bridge later.
• A student’s active presence and participation promotes deeper understanding: Ongoing collaboration, class discussions, group work, and student and teacher interaction are vital for the development of knowledge beyond rote memorization.
• School is a social environment: Consistent attendance allows students to develop social and emotional skills, teamwork, and build positive relationships with peers and teachers.
• Habits for lifelong learning: Attending school instills discipline, time management, and a responsibility to learning that benefits students as they progress through the Needham Public Schools and prepare for their futures lives.
These statements will guide our work with students in the coming years. We also need to make sure that we have interventions for students - low income students for example - who are struggling to be fully present in school and ensure that our practices, programs, and policies engage and empower them for success.
I believe we must have both accountability and support for students who are chronically absent. There are often underlying causes for extended student absences, and we need to understand the reasons and context for absenteeism. We owe it to our families and the young people we serve to let them know that learning in person is not optional; that sometimes there are consequences for absences; and reassure them we will provide the academic, counseling, mental health and behavioral support they need to attend school, stay in class learning, and achieve success.
Dr. Gutekanst you have failed for many years to protect my child from nursing neglect. When the school nurse and head nurse continue to lie about why the repeatedly do not follow the pediatrician orders. My child can not breath and goes into respiratory distress caused by not getting his medication. When are you going to protect my child? He is having school phobia and refuses to advocate for himself with teachers and nurses due to 6 years of neglect. Not everyone who lives in Needham can afford private school. I have asked many times for the district to move my child to a new school. My child has experienced trauma due to medical neglect, teacher neglect and your failure to protect him. This all could have been prevented if you acted when he was in kindergarten and did not recieve his medication. My pediatrician continues to state this is medical neglect and school neglect! The entire school committee is aware of the neglect and have done nothing!
ReplyDeleteYou caused my child to be afraid of going to school!
I would love to hear more about how Needham is supporting students struggling with anxiety-driven school refusal. Behavior based rewards and gradually increased exposure often doesn’t work for neurodivergent students or those struggling with mental health issues because it’s not addressing the neurological need for safety. It’s trying to put an bandaid on someone who is bleeding out. Administrators, staff and teachers are flying blind and failing our kids. They need better training and tools to make school a more tolerable experience for those who are experiencing extreme distress at school. Addressing these problems with a behavioral approach is a critical mistake. Get to the root of the issue. Make real changes systematically, read the research, make changes (do better than ABA), innovate, iterate and then perhaps you won’t have as many absenteeism issues or have to spend exorbitant amounts of money to send kids to therapeutic schools to fix the problems that could have been avoided if the district better understood this population. Educate administrators, staff and teachers and actually implement changes to make attending school a positive and sustainable experience for struggling students who dread school every single day. School refusal is brutal for a family. No one wants this for their child. I speak from experience. Your perspective needs broadening. Read the research. Do better start with this: Boston Globe article, Some Massachusetts students are so anxious, they’re missing school for months on end. What can schools do? from June 12.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1358354/full#:~:text=The%20wider%20literature%20indicates%20that,Maynard%20et%20al.%2C%202018%3B
ReplyDeleteLink above to Frontiers piece: A brief neuro-affirming resource to support school absences for autistic learners: development and program description
ReplyDeleteDo you notice an increased rate of absenteeism for teachers as well? I’m in an adjacent town but worked in a Needham school for years; that’s why I follow your blog. In my own town I’ve worked on a committee addressing attendance policy to try to combat this issue. My student is not chronically absent. What I notice for her is that she has subs so very often- this also affects student outcomes. Is this an issue in Needham?
ReplyDeleteThere are multiple studies now out linking cleaner air in schools to less school days lost and greater scores on achievement tests. This is two-fold- keeping viruses and germs out and mitigating the spread when kids are sick, along with removing pollutants from the air which can hamper learning. Unfortunately, public health has profoundly failed our children's generation- trying to make Covid "like a cold or the flu" is dangerous, as it is not similar to either. On top of that, you wouldn't expect children to get the flu multiple times a year, and flu can have long term health implications as well. Kids SHOULD stay home for "just the sniffles" when it is not just the sniffles. It could be allergies but it could also be the beginning of a contagious disease. CDC, who has been notoriously downplaying illnesses, came out yesterday and said we should open windows, use air purifiers and maintain HVAC systems to prevent the spread of disease. I think focusing on decreasing illness spread in school is going to be a critical piece to decreasing lost learning.
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