Superintendent Mary Skipper and Mayor Michelle Wu joined dozens of volunteers in visiting a couple hundred homes Wednesday morning, reengaging with families before students head back to the classroom Thursday.
The annual initiative, spearheaded by Boston Public Schools’ Re-Engagement Center, targeted two groups of students: those who were chronically absent last year, meaning they missed 10% or more of school days, and those who dropped out completely.
Emmanuel Allen, the center’s re-engagement director, said the brief interactions with the families go a long way in hopefully setting a positive tone for the new year.
“This is really what the work is about, going after the students who may be off the grid a little bit and listening to their stories, finding options for them. It’s really that simple,” Allen said. “Once you meet personally, it leads to a couple of conversations from caring adults to really get you back on track.”
More students have been considered chronically absent since the pandemic, with the 21% figure that the district saw in 2018-19 rising to 42% in 2021-22. While officials say they are encouraged by a 5% drop seen last year, they admit more needs to be done.
The district has roughly 50,552 students to begin the year, according to data Superintendent Mary Skipper presented at a School Committee meeting last week.
About 54 volunteers are working with 279 families identified through the Re-Engagement Center, with 152 of those being dropouts and the remaining 127 chronically absent, district spokesperson Max Baker told the Herald.
Issues behind prolonged absences vary, whether it be medical, a student missing a few days and not knowing how to get back on track, or family-related, Skipper said.
“We want to see them back in school,” she said. “Whatever problems there were last year that prevented them from coming regularly, we are here to support.”
The superintendent and mayor stopped by a home in Roxbury and two in Mission Hill as part of the door-knocking campaign.
Among new initiatives to bolster student engagement is a platform “that facilitates educators’ access to data, to foster a collaborative, anti-racist, and asset-based approach to a multi-tiered system of support, to create attendance plans for students,” according to a district update in May.
For the first time in a while, the district has a full staff of bus drivers, with 743 active and more in training.
Officials also are hoping that a different approach to the district’s attendance letters to be “more student-centered and relationship-based and no longer punitive” will lead to a further decrease in chronic absenteeism and dropouts.
“Oftentimes, more often than not, I would say when there is a challenge when it comes to barriers to attendance, it’s something else,” Wu said. “It’s a housing issue. It’s a health issue. It’s something that the city could be supporting in another way, as well.”