A long-standing problem in New York City public schools comes to light in a report by the Center for New York City Affairs to be released Tuesday. The report details the high rate of absences of elementary school students, especially in areas of central Brooklyn, Harlem and the South Bronx, where about 20 percent of children “missed at least a month of classes during the last school year.” (New York Times, 10/20/08)
Although the absentee rate increases with higher grade levels, not much attention has been focused on the severity of the problem in elementary school. The rate of NYC middle school students and high school students absent for at least a month of classes is 24 percent and 40 percent, respectively.
“Chronic absenteeism in elementary schools is disproportionately a problem in poor and minority communities and it immediately puts students behind their middle-class peers,” the report stated. “The academic pressures build over time and build quickly.” (New York Times, 10/20/08)
New York City has hired attendance monitors to check up on students to make sure they are coming to school or only missing classes for legitimate reasons. However, the city hired 392 monitors to fulfill an impossible task of keeping up with about 200,000 students.