Lingering impact of COVID-19 boosts absenteeism rates to crisis level in Central New York

The Syracuse City School District is moving the needle in the right direction when it comes to getting kids back in the classroom consistently; but the scope of the chronic absenteeism problem post-pandemic is at a crisis level, spreading far beyond urban districts.

Chronic absenteeism is typically defined as when a child misses at least 10% of school days in an academic year, which is about 15 for most districts. According to data from the New York State Education Department, 8,652 students in Syracuse hit that mark in the 2022/23 school year, or about 51% of students. Statewide, about 26% of students were chronically absent.

In Syracuse, that represents a 17% improvement across all school levels between the 2021 and 2022 academic years, but its still far worse than it was before COVID-19 hit and disrupted even the most basic day to day aspects of education. Chronic absenteeism is up about 33% in Syracuse compared to the 2018/19 academic year.

Monique Wright-Williams is leading the charge in Syracuse Schools to get that figure as close to zero as possible. In recent years, the district has been deploying “impact teams” directly to the houses of students who are constantly failing to show up for class. As the district’s Chief Engagement Officer, Wright-Williams oversees those efforts.

“Parents are facing a lot of challenges that make it difficult to do what we might consider simple things like getting your children up and on the bus and out the door,” Wright-Williams said.

Chronic absenteeism has been a longtime problem in a district facing overwhelming poverty. But COVID-19 exacerbated the issue in a major way, creating conditions that experts say make it easier for students and parents alike to rationalize missing a school day.

“They didn’t get up, get dressed and go to school for a very long tie. A very long time,” Wright-Williams said, “so you kind of get out of the habit, as well as just deciding it was more comfortable at home.”

This trend is impacting districts that have traditionally not handled a widespread absenteeism problem, with statistically massive increases now coming from affluent or high performing districts nationwide.

In Central New York, for example, chronic absenteeism is up 112% at Mott Road Elementary in Fayetteville; 161% at Durgee Jr. High School in Baldwinsville; and 955% at State Street Elementary in Skaneateles.

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) a politically conservative leaning think tank, compiled nationwide data showing chronic absenteeism went up from 15% to 26% between 2018 and 2023 across the country. Researchers there found that while the problem is impacting all districts, “low achievement and high poverty” districts are still the most affected.

Nat Malkus is a Senior Fellow at AEI and the think tank’s Deputy Director of Education Policy, believes this is the most urgent problem that public schools need to find a way to solve.

“Disadvantaged schools had higher levels of chronic absenteeism. That remains true after the pandemic, chronic absenteeism jumped across the board,” Malkus said.

According to Malkus, other districts like Syracuse are beginning to move in the right direction, but not quickly enough to overcome further learning loss. He said that based on improvements between 2022 and 2023, the problem won’t come down to pre-pandemic levels until 2030. This also assumes that a “new normal” of absenteeism does not set in amongst schools, kids and parents.