Attendance and Suspension

Attendance is a nuisance for any teacher in Baltimore City, and it is a huge contributing factor to many of the problems that students and teachers have. Getting to the root of this problem is ten-fold, concerning complicated issues such as perceptions about the value of school, parental involvement, and motivation. The Open Society Institute-Baltimore writes on their website, "One of the single most stunning statistics that illuminates why Baltimore is unsuccessful in educating its students is this: Every year, 20,000 students are repeatedly absent from class." This is a staggering number, but not a surprising one, if you work in the system. Student achievement would be significantly impacted if attendance was improved. However, OSI also writes "The OSI-Baltimore Education and Youth Development Program believes that the key to increasing achievement in Baltimore is to slash the numbers of students who are suspended, truant or otherwise absent from class." While I agree that there someone should be able to come up with a more effective way to discipline students, I do not agree that reducing suspensions hold the key for increasing achievement. However, OSI makes a good point when they question why schools would create for themselves and for students the same problems that we are trying to combat in terms of attendance...Trying to get kids to come to school, then sending them back out. Students get suspended at my school when they don't have their uniform more than once or twice. This is clearly a trivial cause for suspension, but what other options does the school have, after they use up the few that they do have?

Sometimes I watch kids moving through the school day, and I am sometimes struck by a certain tension. I have a student who was just locked up for about 3 months. Yesterday was his first day back, first day out of a cell. He came in, was brushed aside for a schedule, and walked around for a couple of hours until he was caught doing something ridiculous, and sent to an administrator. I was surprised he lasted those few hours. When kids miss a ton of school, for whatever reason, it is not surprising that they are going to mess around- they have no idea what going on, and it seems that many of them are not accustomed to sitting for instruction. This kid was a poster child for an at risk student before being locked up- spotty attendance, behavior problems, multiple suspensions. OSI writes, "Alarmingly, neither the Baltimore community nor its schools have responded consistently and aggressively to stem the epidemic of student absences and school exclusions. The failure to do so has contributed mightily to the high rates of school failure, dropout, drug and juvenile justice involvement that plague our city." There was some talk in the beginning of the year about fining parents whose children were absent too often. I am not sure that this is the most reasonable answer, especially if you have ever met a 17 year old with a mind of their own, but certainly serious aggression is in order.