On March 9, families of students with 35 or more marked truancies were sent a letter from the school district. The letter states “your child has been marked truant from one or more classes at least thirty five times during the dates September 14th, 2020 – March 1st, 2021” and that “your child is in violation of the compulsory school attendance laws of the State of California.” The note then goes on to list information about the effects of truancy, such as potential suspended driving privileges, a revoked working permit, inability to participate in school activities and even prosecution of one’s parent or guardian.
The letter may have been initially shocking for some who received it, especially for those without a previous understanding of the truancy policies in place. “I have a lot going on in my life right now, school has been incredibly hard especially in these past few months. The added threat of being prosecuted or going to court is really stressful and I wish the administration had taken a more constructive approach,” says an 11th grade student from the San Mateo High School District who received the letter in March.
These letters are actually sent out every year to families, the first after a student has cut 14 class periods, the second after 28, and the third after 35. Normally they are sent every month, but due to other forms of messaging during distance learning the district put a hold on sending letters throughout the fall semester. The third letter requires a mandatory meeting with the student’s family and their designated administrator. At SMHS, that administrator is assistant principal Patti Frias. Ms. Frias explains that in these meetings she works with families to explore how to get their student more engaged and informs them of the truancy policies and steps to take. In many cases, simply having the family involved and informed brings improvement.
Despite the potential outcomes of truancy listed in the letter, the district has never actually prosecuted a student’s family. The first steps are typically catered towards the family’s needs, some options being an attendance contract, adjustments to the student’s schedule, or enrollment into wellness programs. “We are restorative in nature, we are not punitive… we don’t want to deter the student, we want them to want to come participate,” says Ms. Frias. After efforts to engage the student multiple times have tried and failed, administrators typically recommend an attendance review board meeting at the district level. In these meetings, a panel of assistant principals from each school in the district and/or deans, as well as school resource officers, discuss larger steps to take and typically establish a district-level attendance contract. In cases such as these, school resource officers will occasionally do a home visit and the panel will look at the student as a whole: getting credits for graduating, potentially transferring schools, and other options that would leave a lasting positive impact.
Online attendance does hold the same legal weight as attendance in-person, but has a few notable differences. Pre-pandemic there were more frequent responses to truancy after the first few offences such as “choices”, where students would take time to write a written reflection after school, or Saturday school. In the 2018-2019 school year, there were 15 or more period absences among 4% of students. In the 2019-2020 year, the number remained fairly steady at 4.2%. This year, 2020-2021, that number has risen to 6.49%, which is a fairly insignificant increase but does not account for students considered “distance learning not engaged”, an attendance option for students who join Zoom meetings but fail to participate (when students have their camera off, do not respond when asked a question, etc.).
Attendance during online learning this past year has proved to be a problem across the country. The New York Times reported that at the beginning of the pandemic only one-third of students in the Los Angeles School District regularly participated in online learning. Issues are particularly prevalent in schools with many low-income students, due to spotty wifi and no access to a home computer. The San Mateo Union High School District worked extremely hard at the beginning of this school year to provide computers and hotspots to students in need, and as a result, our district’s attendance rates have managed to stay fairly consistent.
Despite the rollercoaster of adjustments to the 2020/2021 school year, resilience and problem-solving amongst administrators, teachers, and students alike has kept our school district running. Those who received truancy letters in March, especially if it was their first one, likely feel overwhelmed and fearful of punishment; however, the SMUHSD has communicated their understanding and hopes to spread some reassurance and helpfulness in the mandatory conferences. “We do everything in our power to work with the family to ensure that the child is physically and emotionally safe and offer the resources and flexibility to ensure that they can access their education,” says Ms. Frias. There’s no denying that the circumstances of this school year have been like no other, but the fight is almost over.