Why student absences have soared since the pandemic -- and what schools are doing to help

Far more students have been consistently absent from school across the Lower Hudson Valley and the state since the pandemic, which could affect student achievement for years to come.

Students are considered "chronically absent" if they miss at least 10% of instructional days during a school year. That's at least 18 days in New York.

All 54 school districts in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties had higher rates of chronic absenteeism during the 2022-23 school year than during 2018-19, the last year before the pandemic jolted schooling, according to recently released data from the state Education Department.

In 2018-19, 12 of the 54 districts had at least 10% of students who were chronically absent.

By the 2022-23 school year, 37 districts had rates of over 10% — including eight with rates over 20%.

Schools everywhere have seen students suffering from "school avoidance and anxiety" since the pandemic, said Gail Joyner, the New Rochelle school district's assistant superintendent for student support services.

"Many students across the nation have struggled to return to the traditional classroom setting," Joyner said in an email. "Some families have food insecurities, transportation issues, and working parents who may not be home in the morning to see that their children go to school. Some high school students enroll in school but do not attend regularly due to the need to work and help support their families."

Highest absentee rates in most diverse districts

The region's most diverse school districts, which face more poverty and other common socio-economic challenges, saw the highest rates of chronic absenteeism in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

Yonkers had the region's highest rate of chronically absent students in 2022-23 at 45.1%, including 53% at the high school level. The districts with the next highest percentages were East Ramapo (40%), New Rochelle (36.2%), Port Chester (28.1%) and Mount Vernon (26.1%).

Yonkers' chronically absent students have been slowed by issues that have affected students across the country, including mental health challenges, school district spokesperson Akeem Jamal said.

"Chronic absenteeism has impacted students social-emotionally as well as academically," Jamal said in an email. "Students who have missed 2 or more days a month may find it increasingly difficult to transition back to school as the curriculum is sequential and builds upon each subsequent day. This creates learning gaps which may manifest in challenges social-emotionally in addition to creating healthy peer relationships."

The state will not release chronic absenteeism rates for the school year now ending for at least several months.

Absenteeism points to broad challenges facing schools

Student absenteeism is the fastest growing concern of school superintendents across New York, according to surveys done by the New York State Council of School Superintendents.

Statewide, 44% of schools chiefs said they had a "high level" of concern about absenteeism in 2023, compared to 25% in 2019. The only issues superintendents were more concerned about in 2023 were students' mental health and vaping — issues with clear ties to students missing school.

School leaders want policymakers and the public to know that they are increasingly having to deal with "diminished student well-being," said Bob Lowry, the statewide Superintendents Council's deputy director. Absenteeism is one symptom.

In the spring, when educators were opposing Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal to reduce state aid to many school districts, "one of our points was that while schools may be serving fewer students, they have been doing more for those students than ever before," Lowry said.

In the Lower Hudson Valley, 46% of superintendents in 2023 had a high level of concern (39%) or moderate level of concern (17%) about absenteeism.

Chronic absenteeism has long been a key measuring stick of a school community's well-being. It is a major factor the state Education Department weights when considering school districts' performance and accountability. The state reports separate rates for grades 1-8 and 9-12 on its online report cards for school districts.

The Journal News/lohud calculated single rates for grades 1-12 for each of the Lower Hudson Valley's districts, which are included in the accompanying chart.

Even many districts that appeared to have moderate, or not especially high, chronic absenteeism rates in 2022-23 still saw significant increases over pre-pandemic 2018-19. The Ossining district had a single chronically absent student in 2018-19, for a rate of .02%, but saw 551 students miss at least 10% of instructional days in 2022-23, for a rate of 12.1%.

Harrison and Nanuet had the next highest jumps from 2018-19 to 2022-23. In 2018-19, 1.6% of Harrison's students and 5.1% of Nanuet's students were chronically absent. In 2022-23, those rates were 13.2% in Harrison and 14.2% in Nanuet.

Schools working with families to return students to school

Lower Hudson Valley school districts with high absenteeism rates have been working intensely with students and their families to coax kids back to classrooms.

"Each district handles things uniquely, but you really have to get families, parents and communities to work together," said Marc Baiocco, Clarkstown superintendent and president of the Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents. "It's not only a school issue."

"When some kids don't come to school, it will further the gaps between students," Baiocco said.

Some districts say their work is starting to pay off and that chronic absenteeism rates started to come down during the school year that is now ending. Official rates won't be available from the state until the the next school year.

Port Chester Deputy Superintendent Colleen Carroll said her district saw progress this year. Last year, in 2022-23, 26.1% of Port Chester students in grades 1-8 and 31.4% of high school students were chronically absent.

"We have taken many steps, including but not limited to a variety of family outreach and education efforts, after-school and summer academic support programs, partnering with community-based organizations to support our families to ensure students are in school as well as assist students academically," Carroll said in an email.

In Mount Vernon, where the chronic absenteeism rate among high schoolers was 26.1% in 2022-23, Acting Superintendent K. Veronica Smith said in a statement that the 9-12 rate had dropped to 20% in 2023-24, the school year now ending.

The Yonkers school district has established "attendance teams," partnered with mental health professionals, set up mentoring for students and taken other steps to reduce absenteeism. As a result, Jamal said, the district's overall chronic absenteeism rate has dropped this year by about 13% to 35.7%.

"However, we are just getting started and will continue to promote best and promising practices to reduce chronic absenteeism across the district, analyze interventions, build on strengths, fortify opportunities, and minimize barriers, as well as align community resources to address such barriers," he said.

New Rochelle's Joyner described a district focused on improving attendance.

New Rochelle has an attendance committee that meets monthly, and each school has dedicated staff who regularly review attendance data and develop strategies to get students back in school. To that end, the district has trained five "attendance teachers" to analyze data on attendance trends.

Additionally, each school meets with the families of chronically absent students, providing workshops for all and individualized supports. New Rochelle High School also plans to pair each student with the same counselor for all four years of high school to build stronger relationships and improve the monitoring of student progress.

The district's chronic absenteeism rate dropped by almost 5% this year, Joyner said.

"While this is an improvement, there is more work to be done," she said. "Our school teams will continue to work collaboratively with students, families, and community partners to reduce missed school days and to support our students in being successful in school and beyond."

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Why student absences have soared since the pandemic -- and what schools are doing to help