COVID Disrupted School Attendance: Why It Matters to Parents and Kids – And What We Can Do About It

Woody Allen once stated that 80% of success in life is simply about showing up.

While 80% may seem like a high figure, the act of showing up is undeniably the minimum requirement for success, and even at this basic level, our educational system is faltering.

A recent report from the Manhattan Institute indicates that over one-third of public school students in New York City were chronically absent last year, defined as missing more than 10% of school days.

Furthermore, over 39% of low-income students, minority students, and English language learners fell into the chronic absenteeism category.

This means that the students who most need regular school attendance are the ones who are attending the least.

Unfortunately, the pandemic has exacerbated this issue.

Even though the risk of COVID-19 to children was minimal, excessively severe measures were imposed on schools under pressure from the teachers’ union, leading to school closures.

As a result, parents received the message that consistent attendance was not a priority.

While parents share some responsibility for their children’s attendance, the schools that these children attend are also accountable.

The report highlights many schools that manage to maintain low absenteeism rates despite predominantly serving low-income and minority students.

For instance, the Pathways College Preparatory School serves a student body that is 75% low-income and 75% black, yet it has a chronic absenteeism rate of just 14%.

Similarly, Medgar Evers, which has a student body that is 91% low-income and 83% black, boasts a chronic absenteeism rate of 13%.

It is possible for schools to combat chronic absenteeism.

At Success Academy Charter Schools, where I serve as leader, we invest considerable effort into ensuring that students attend school regularly.

We emphasize that our educators should exemplify good attendance by rarely being absent themselves.

We celebrate “Zero Heroes” — students who achieve perfect attendance — along with classrooms that reach 100% attendance on any given day.

We reach out to parents each time a student is late or absent through phone calls or texts.

If a student demonstrates consistently poor attendance, we will implement an “upstairs dismissal,” requiring the parent to come into the building when they pick up their child to discuss the attendance issue.

The cornerstone of our approach is holding educators accountable.

We monitor the attendance rates of each of our schools on a daily basis.

If attendance is lacking, we collaborate with the school principal to enhance it.

We refuse to accept chronic absenteeism as an unavoidable circumstance — because it simply isn’t.

It’s also important to acknowledge that some children stay home due to feelings of unsafety at school or the belief that their time is wasted because instruction is frequently disrupted by unruly students.

We must offer students schools that they genuinely want to attend.

If we allow COVID-19 to set a new, lower standard for school attendance permanently, it will stand as one of the most unfortunate legacies of this tragic chapter in our nation’s history.

We cannot allow this to occur.

Eva Moskowitz is the founder and CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools.