Absenteeism is Rising: How an Indy School Seeks to Buck Trends

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Source: Mirror Indy | Repost For for Life Foundation 5/16/2024

Precious Sarver’s son is a top student. The fourth grader has made the honor roll and he’s typically ahead in class, Sarver said. But this year, Josiah has also missed some school.

He needed surgery earlier in the year and later caught a stomach virus. That, compounded with some transportation challenges at home, has kept Josiah out of school more than 30 days this year.

With support from his teachers at Sankofa School of Success on the east side, Sarver said Josiah has stayed on top of his classwork. She communicated with the IPS Innovation School about each planned absence and the school marked them as excused. In the eyes of the state, however, Josiah fits the definition of a chronically absent student.

“We’ll take some doctor’s notes and everything and mark it as excused in our system,” said Laurie Hargrove, the assistant head of school at Sankofa. “However, to the state, an absence is an absence.”

Learn more about absenteeism and the impact that it has on students!