In the last school year, more than 70 percent of U.S. schools reported an increase in the rate of students missing at least one school day every two weeks.

Statewide, the rate of chronic absenteeism – missing at least 10 percent of school days in one year – increased from 17 to 21 percent between the 2017-2018 and 2020-2021 school years. In Portland Public Schools, nearly a quarter of students were chronically absent during the 2021-2022 academic year. Motortion Films/Shutterstock.com

Those students who don’t make it to class face well-documented challenges. “There is strong evidence that being in school on a regular basis really matters,” Robert Balfanz, director of the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, told the Press Herald this week.

“Students who are chronically absent are much more likely to have lower achievement, fail more classes, and ultimately not graduate from high school,” Balfranz said.

The most vulnerable students – those from low-income backgrounds, students whose first language isn’t English or students who have disabilities – are the most likely to miss school, and stand to lose the most.

Chronic absenteeism – missing at least 10 percent of school days in one year – throughout the Portland public school district has increased sharply in the past four years, according to a report out this week; nearly a quarter of students were chronically absent during the 2021-22 year. Statewide, the rate of chronic absenteeism increased from 17 to 21 percent between the 2017-2018 and 2020-2021 school years.

If Maine were one of a handful of states that based school funding on average daily attendance rates, perhaps there would be more of an imperative to bring these numbers down. Not that the defense of literacy, numeracy, social skills and students’ mental health isn’t reason enough.

For now, it seems our schools are on their own in trying to improve attendance. Because of debilitating staffing shortages, most of them are operating at a greatly reduced capacity. Out of options, some schools have resorted to house calls by principals and teachers. It’s hard to imagine the average staff body being in a position to extend this type of outreach right now.

Blame and punishment of absentees is likely to only further alienate already-alienated students, something a reassuring number of schools now seem to understand. A handful of studies support the use of a carrot-and-stick approach for school attendance, and recent overtures to students by schools bear a striking resemblance to return-to-office sweeteners. Gone is the gold star, replaced by pizza and prizes. When you can’t afford the carrot that this unusually challenging climate seems to demand, though, what are your options?

State and municipal bodies can better assist our schools in finding answers. It is time for Maine’s Office of School and Student Supports, in particular, to shine. Founded in 2017, it developed recommendations and resources that are in need of overhaul to reflect the effect the pandemic has had on communities.

The pandemic broke the rhythm of many things, school-going included. Routines lost and distorted by changes to work and home life can prove challenging to regain. In its challenging economic aftermath, lower-income families are struggling to cover day-to-day costs of attending school, leading to staggering rates of chronic absenteeism in districts with high concentrations of poverty.

All of this has led to an understanding that the only approach that will work is one that is compassionate, fully informed and works on a case-by-case basis to get to the root of the absenteeism.

Relationship building requires people. Timely interventions require slack in the system. As most of Maine’s schools currently have very little of either, specific and effective engagement with students and parents calls for a whole lot of outside help.