Propelled by one of the darkest days in the city’s recent history, Albany area state lawmakers are taking on chronic absenteeism in some of the state’s largest school districts.

It comes after a violent Fourth of July in the capital city, in which 10 people were shot and one killed, and a fire sparked by a flare gun destroyed two buildings in incidents involving youth offenders. A 15-year-old was charged with murder in the death of 17-year-old Vance Mims III and several others who played a role were even younger.

“We learned a lot this summer,” State Sen. Pat Fahy said. “Some of those involved were 12, 13 and 14.”

In looking for answers, officials, including Fahy, along with Assemblymembers John McDonald and Gabriella Romero, have zeroed in on age.

That has led some, like Albany County District Attorney Lee Kindlon, to push for tweaks to the state’s Raise the Age law — which allows offenders ages 16 and 17 to avoid being prosecuted as adults. In this case, the conversation has centered around those younger participants and their school attendance records. More broadly, a report last year from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli found a nearly one in three chronic absenteeism rate statewide.

“Some of these kids hadn’t been in school for a year,” McDonald said of those involved in the July 4th incidents. “How is a child out of school all year?” Fahy added.

Fahy, McDonald and Romero are hoping to find out through a two-part legislative package. One bill would create a dashboard to track absenteeism in real time. Fahy stressed that this aspect is crucial because the most current data that the state has to work from is from the 2022-2023 school year. Fahy finds the lack of current tracking ability troubling.

“We need really time data,” she said. “You need to shine a light on students when there is chronic absenteeism. You don’t wait until the middle of the year—within the first month.”

The second bill would create a pilot program focused on intervention, and where necessary — enforcement. It would be open to the state’s 100 largest school districts located within a city of less than 1 million people, effectively excluding New York City.

The program would attempt to recalibrate a system of outreach, programming, and, in some cases, law enforcement action that has broken down in the aftermath of the pandemic.

“Programs that used to be active and build communications between all of the stakeholders that were actually somewhat vibrant before the pandemic, because of the pandemic, they kind of dissipated,” McDonald said.

Fahy explained that districts would not be forced to participate, but the hope is to reestablish some accountability in the state’s larger cities, such as Albany, Buffalo, Rochester,= and Syracuse.

“We are well past COVID now,” Fahy said. “Somebody has got to knock at that door every day, there has to be intervention, and where necessary, there has to be stepping in to work with the family and possibly child protective services to make it clear: it’s not acceptable,” she said.

Western New York Republican Assemblymember Joe Sempolinski expressed support for the bill — with one objection:

“It only looks at large school districts — and I think we should look to avoid absenteeism in all school districts,” he said.

He also took the opportunity to implore the state’s Democratic majority to look into other laws that relate to youth offenders, like Raise the Age.

“We need to also look at how we have changed our criminal justice over the years,” he said.

Indeed, the events of July 4th have led to conversations about changes to raise the age as part of this year’s budget, and Gov. Kathy Hochul didn’t rule it out when asked in the aftermath of July 4th. Some lawmakers have expressed that they expect conversations over some level of minor adjustment to be a budget battle.

McDonald stressed his support for Raise the Age.

“I don’t ever see that rolling back, maybe some minor tweaks to it — very minor,” he said.

But both Fahy and McDonald agreed that a spotlight must be on those who are just under that threshold as a means of preventing them from getting to a point where Raise the Age is a factor in their lives.

“These are the young kids that we have to make sure we’re addressing their needs. Raise the Age is a little separate from this — and it starts with absenteeism,” Fahy said.

Fahy expressed hope that the initiative could eventually develop into a coalition similar to Hochul’s bell-to-bell cellphone ban in schools, and potentially factor into conversations around youth criminal justice during budget talks.

Spectrum News 1 reached out to Hochul’s office, and a spokesperson pointed to her investments in school aid, universal free school meals, and the bell-to-bell cellphone ban and added the governor will review any bill that passes both houses of the state legislature.