THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, JunE 21, 2024 Page 11 LAMBERT | FROM PAGE 1 abuse and higher rates of contentedness.” The Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) defi nes a chronically absent student as one that missed 10% of school, usually 18 days in a 180-day school year. Hart appointed Whittier School Principal Michael McLucas as head of a School Department Attendance Committee of teachers, paraprofessionals and administrators to study the issue. Input was gleaned from parents at community meetings at local schools. “Absenteeism aff ects students’ abilities to access academic support a school provides,” McLucas noted. Everett’s 2023-24 school year chronic absenteeism rate, calculated though March 1, was 34.6%. That’s higher than Chelsea’s 33%, Revere’s 29.3% and Malden’s 24.5%. The National Center for Education Statistics calculates the national rate at 18%. The Everett rate is a drop from a 37.6% in 2022-23 and a high of 42.7% in 2021-22, but still higher than the lowest recent rate, 19% in 2019-20. Between 2016-17 and 2018-19 it was between 20 and 21%. “Numbers are still higher than the pre-pandemic rates,” McLucas acknowledged. Parent surveys have thus far indicated illness as the prime reason for absences. When asked what the first reason for a child’s absence was, illness was the prime reason for 87.9%. Asked for the second reason, 51.5% answered illness, 27.3%, injuries and 7.6%, safety concerns. Asked for the third reason, 50% was illness, and learning challenges and personal relations rated 10.6% each. Asked what would help, 57.6% answered there was a need for social and emotional support and 56.1% answered that participation in afterschool enrichment programs and clubs would help. Parents were asked what the consequences of absenteeism should be and were allowed to pick more than one selection. Out of approximately 75 parents, half answered morning or afternoon detention; 43.9% answered mandatory enrollment in academic support programs; 33.3%, enrollment in programs specifi cally linked to attendance; 25.8%, enrollment in summer programs; and 13.6%, referral to the School Department’s Family Resource Center in City Hall. The Family Resource Center has proven to be a valuable asset. “It’s showing impact because they’re intervening at the right time and help identify resources,” Hart said. Other steps that can and are being taken are phone calls and meetings with parents, a mentoring program with teachers and recognition of good attendance, including having banners in classes with good attendance. In other items, Hart told the members he would be appearing before the City Council on Monday, June 24, to unveil plans to use the old High School (548 Broadway) for 7th and 8th grade classes. “I wanted to keep you abreast before I go, so no one will be caught off guard,” he told them. He also said the City administration asked him to do so. Current plans would have 43 classrooms, plus a library, gym, cafeteria and administrative offi ces there. “It will allow us to program for that age group and free up space in the rest of the buildings,” he said in reference to K-8 neighborhood schools. The building currently houses a preschool, boxing club and the independent Eliot Family Resource Center and needs a new roof, among other things. YOUR LOCAL NEWS & SPORTS IN SIX LANGUAGES. SUBSCRIBE TO THE ADVOCATE ONLINE BY SCANNING HERE!
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