RPS struggles with student absenteeism still present

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

More than 4,700 students in Richmond Public Schools have missed 15 or more days of classes, many because of housing instability, the School Board was told Monday night.

The good news: That’s an improvement from a year ago when 5,200 students missed 10 percent or more of the school year, the definition of chronic absenteeism, Dr. Shadae Harris, RPS’ chief engagement officer reported.

The bad news: RPS is still falling far short of its goal of having 9% or fewer students chronically absent and is still experiencing levels of absenteeism that exceed the already alarming percentage of students who were chronically absent before the pandemic.

Dr. Harris noted that the team she has assembled to deal with absenteeism has already made more than 41,000 calls and home visits with parents and missing students, a 17% increase from a year ago.

The school system also has installed improved technology to better track attendance and missing students, she said, ensuring a more efficient, data-driven process.

The main focus of the work is to build relationships with families, she said, to overcome barriers that are interfering with the education of their children.

She told the board that the data shows the approach is having an impact, with overall chronic absenteeism falling from 25% in May 2022 to the current 22%, although that is still higher than the 19% rate of chronic absenteeism reported for the 2019-2020 school year when the pandemic hit.

Still, absenteeism among Black students, who are the largest single ethnic group RPS serves, have a chronic absenteeism rate of 27%, which is significantly higher than the rate for white