Opening Statement of Councilmember David Grosso

Chairperson, Committee on Education

Committee of the Whole
Joint Public Oversight Hearing on “Improving School Attendance: Truancy,
Chronic Absenteeism, and the Implementation of
Reform Initiatives”
December 5, 2019

Thank you, Chairman Mendelson, for holding this joint hearing with the Education Committee. Thank
you, too, to the government witnesses who are here today to discuss the critical issues of attendance
and absenteeism.

First, I want to acknowledge that this meeting is taking place on the traditional land of the Anacostan
People of the Piscataway Tribe.

Our schools are expending considerable effort to improve attendance. We can see this reflected in the
12 elementary schools, eight middle schools, and four high schools that have reduced chronic
absenteeism by more than 10% since the Office of the State Superintendent of Education began
collecting daily attendance data in 2015.

Every increase in attendance – even incremental – means that more DC students are being set up for
success well into adulthood. From preschool through to high school, chronic absenteeism is linked to
reduced achievement, social disengagement, and high dropout rates. Long term, it contributes to poor
health, poverty, and an increased likelihood of interacting with the criminal justice system.

Efforts to address chronic absentism are a win for every student in the District of Columbia, even those
that show up every day. Research shows that chronic absenteeism contributes to lower academic
outcomes even for students who attend school every day, so chronic absenteeism is an issue for
absolutely every student in our city.

But some of the numbers in the attendance report released by OSSE on Monday are frankly
embarrassing. At more than a third of DC high schools, at least 75% of students were chronically absent
in 2018-2019.

What’s even more concerning is the growing gap between students categorized as at-risk and those
not. I am ashamed that we as a city continue to do such a disservice to our students and families by
holding what amounts to the same hearing year after year.

As I’ve stated in these hearings time and again, I believe it is within our power to address chronic
absenteeism in DC – to ensure, in other words, that students get to school and stay in school.

But to do so requires the commitment and cooperation of many, including the agencies in this room
today, the schools they support, and the many students and families we collectively serve.

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This is why I have spent the last several years focusing on issues that ensure students get to school
safely, ensure they are loved and supported when they are at school, and ensure they and their families
have access to the needed supports that set families up for success.

My questions today will center on chronic absenteeism rather than truancy because the heart of the
issue is that students are missing a great deal of school, not that they’re doing so unexcused.

To focus on truancy further criminalizes students and families, especially those from low-income, black,
and Latinx communities, who are already tasked with navigating a system fraught with hurdles and
biases.

Beyond this, my questions will focus on how we build out what is working in schools and wind down
efforts that simply aren’t having the intended impact. I appreciate the immense thought that so many –
including those here today – put into addressing chronic absenteeism in our city.

But I also know - using data from the last meeting of the Every Day Counts! Task Force - that we’re
running at least 15 attendance-related programs across the District and some schools that are
participating in five, six, seven different programs still see chronic absenteeism above 50%.

We need to know what’s working at a hyperlocal level - for individual communities, individual schools,
and individual students. We need to be empowering and equipping schools in such a way that they can
provide necessary wraparound services for students and ensure they feel safe both in and outside of the
classroom. And we need to begin that work without further delay because the results we are currently
seeing leave so many students behind.

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