Syracuse City School District begins new school year by attempting to combat chronic absenteeism

The Syracuse City School District is welcoming students to the new school year this week. One of the district's main goals this year is to reduce chronic absenteeism.

Meachem Elementary School staff, along with Superintendent Anthony Davis, welcomed children this week who were excited to start school.

“I’m very excited about the new year and looking forward to a great start,” said Davis.

One of the biggest goals for the coming year is to ensure that every child who is registered actually attends class. About half of the children in the district are consistently absent, meaning they miss at least 15 days of school a year.

Davis said the district is making some progress. 51.5% of students were chronically absent in the 2022-2023 school year. That number dropped to 49.6% last year. Davis said the problem starts early.

“Kindergarten is probably the biggest part of the problem, and then you start creating those habits,” Davis said. “So we work through all those pieces at every level to make sure the kids are here.”

Davis says there is no single reason for chronic absenteeism. In a city with high poverty rates, a quarter of families move at least once during the school year, and many lack reliable transportation or child care.

That's why the district is launching an initiative called “Show up to Glow up: Rise and Thrive.” The focus is on better communication with families. This means that children who don't show up on the first day are already receiving calls to find out why.

Shiela Gaughan is the early years program coordinator at Meachem and handles the social media aspect by posting information on the district's Facebook page.

“The kids love being here. They want to be here,” Gaughan said. “Sometimes it's just a matter of getting them here.”

The district says it is working with community partners to improve the situation. Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh is on board.

“We need to do this as a community,” Walsh said. “The city is looking at how we can continue to improve transportation options. We've brought the county in because the county is where all the social services funding goes. And so they're at the table offering support.”

Ultimately, Davis wants to see improvements over that 50% average.

“The goal is to have none, but realistically we hope for an improvement of at least 20%.”