BETHEL — “[We’re] trying to find that hook. Other than seeing your peers, what is your motivation? What drives them to come [to school]? That’s an ever-changing target,” said Telstar Middle and High School Principal Mark Kenney.
According to Maine Department of Education data, Telstar high school has one of the highest rates of chronic absenteeism of public schools in the state at 60.42%.
In Maine, a student is defined as being chronically absent if the student is enrolled a minimum of 10 days and is absent 10% or more of the days enrolled. All absences (excused and unexcused) are used to make this determination.
Telstar is not alone. Dramatic increases are happening nationwide. “Several states that have released data for the 2021-22 year so far show roughly a doubling of chronic absenteeism from 2018-19, the last full academic year before the pandemic hit,” reports the Wall Street Journal in a December 2022 story titled, “High Rates of Chronic Absenteeism Persist at U.S. Schools.
“The model of school is very 1950’s. It doesn’t fit today’s kids. We try to find ways that they can find individual pathways … It’s not just about seat time,” said Kenney. Some of the pathways they offer at Telstar are: attending school at Region 9; taking on-line classes; going to college early in the dual enrollment program; or taking AP or honors classes.
Kenney said they try to make learning relevant. Carrie Lynch, the extended learning coordinator, sets up internships for students and school-to-work opportunities. Six seniors are doing work experiences in addition to the school-to-workers. One student, interested in a criminal justice career, works at the district attorney’s office in Norway. A biology student who wants a career in wildlife management is working at a land trust in Umbagog in Errol, NH.
For the past year, high schoolers have been designing a pavilion that will be constructed behind the school with groundbreaking in the Spring. A REV state grant for $250,000 has funded the project that will teach ecology of place, learning about the history of this area, the logging and farming traditions and more.
While the project is mainly for juniors and seniors, the curriculum starts in middle school. Eventually they will expand the learning into the 50 acres behind the school in a five-year plan that Inland Woods + Trails Executive Director Nate Perkins will lead.
Besides the many pathways they’ve instituted to meet students’ needs, they are also trying to build a network – after three years of no volunteers or parents in the building. Tutoring students with homework help on Tuesdays has recently returned.
The PTA has also expanded to twelfth grade. Previously it was a middle school PTA and no high school PTA existed.
Kenney said this is the first time in three years that parents have been allowed back in the building. Parents were not connected, there were no traditional open houses, no in-person conferences, no in-person music concerts or performances. Parents can now attend monthly assemblies. “We’re trying to find ways of doing it differently. We know even before COVID [parent involvement at conferences and open houses] was not great. We’re trying to meet their needs, maximize the opportunities we have.”
In 2018, the rate of chronic absenteeism at Telstar was almost half the current rate, at 32.04%. In 2019 it was 34.34%. In 2020 when COVID began it decreased to 29.15% (however, the state reports incomplete data for that year, because of COVID). In 2021 it shot up to 48.96%. In 2022 it increased again to 60.42%.
Importantly, the rates of chronic absenteeism have also increased at MSAD-44’s other schools. In 2022 at Telstar Middle School it was at 47.90%; Woodstock Elementary was at 52.89% and Crescent Park was at 36.60%. All the rates are higher than the preceding three years.
For the middle schoolers the motivation to come to school is different. It is to see their peers. The administration built in a 10-minute break outside to walk around the school. “It gets them outside and it’s a chance to be social,” said Kenney.
Reasons
The Maine Department of Education ESSA, or Every Student Succeeds Act website, shows the rates of chronic absenteeism as they vary by demographic.
Chronically absent economically disadvantaged students are rated at 40% and chronically absent homeless students are at 47.9%. These are the fourth and second highest, respectively. (The group titled Migrant has the highest rate, and third highest is American Indian or Alaska Native.)
“All kids are struggling coming back as we try to get back to quote/unquote ‘normal school’ and expectations of a full day and workload. It’s a lot of sitting,” said Kenney.
Education professionals say reasons for chronic absenteeism in recent years, may include, but are not limited to: anxiety, falling behind due to pandemic remote learning, and health concerns like COVID, the flu or RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).
Kenney said, “Anxiety was not as evident before. Kids, everyone became very anxious and not everyone shifted out of that. Kenney said they have been, “trying to figure out how build a work ethic back up.”
Kenney said there is a dichotomy in the population on what is the value of school. Getting kids to come to school everyday can be challenging when they may take the day off for their birthday, or a week off for vacation when it’s not a school vacation week. “[There are] all kinds of excuses as to why kids don’t come to school. Parents are part of that sometimes, sometimes they are not,” said Kenney.
Going to the dentist or doctor can mean missing a whole day of school because insurance requires an office visit outside the area. Some families have a private school child and a public school child so vacations are different.
He said, some parents say, “I can’t get my kid out of bed,” or “the bus comes [too early] at 5:45 a.m.” While the school tries to work with everyone, “we don’t have control over some of this,” said Kenney.
According to the Center for Research in Education and Social Policy at the University of Delaware, “Over the long term, chronic absenteeism is correlated to increased rates of high school dropout, adverse health outcomes and poverty in adulthood, and an increased likelihood of interacting with the law.”
Solutions
“We were [prior to COVID] really underestimating the connection kids had to school, to the adults and to each other and the value of that,” said Kenney.
The twice-daily satellite period at Telstar is more than a homeroom and a study hall. Students have the same advisor in their satellite period all four years of high school and each teacher has between 11 and 15 students. “They really try to get to know the kiddos.”
The advisor sets up parent teacher conferences, helps with course sign ups, advises on how to navigate high school. They might work on goal setting, too. “By the time they are juniors and seniors,” said Kenney, “those teachers know those kids pretty well. They become the school parent, essentially.” It’s about conversations. During breakfast, they will ask, “how was your day?”
A teacher’s absence and a shortage of substitutes is not ideal. Kenney said they teach and empower students to be more in charge of their learning when this happens, noting that students have a strong connection to their teachers, making it even harder.
“If we can help them to ride those bumps and bruises now together as a collective. We have the best support network now …” he counsels.
His commitment to connect every student with an adult in the school aligns with what is being tried elsewhere.
In a July 7, 2022 story in Education Week, Sarah D. Sparks wrote about LEAP, a Connecticut program that funds teachers through a grant to make home visits to chronically absent students in the summer. “This fall (2022), the state is expanding training and grants for the program, to include more community groups and other staff in schools, both to help support teachers and provide a broader pool of adults students can connect with at school.”
According to Hedy Chang, executive director of the nonprofit Attendance Works, the big takeaway is meaningful relationships. “One of the keys to making sure that kids will show up to school is making sure every child in a district or in a school is connected to a caring adult.”
“In the end we all want the kids to feel safe and welcome. We want them here and we want them to want to be here. Sometimes the biggest hurdle is to get them through the front door. It’s hard to have an impact if they are not here with us,” said Kenney at a Feb. 13 school board meeting.
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