AMHERST, N.Y. (WKBW) \u2014 As school attendance rates continue to lag behind pre-pandemic levels, educators and community leaders across Western New York are working to address a growing concern: chronic absenteeism.<\/p>\n
For students like Asia Collins, a junior at CPC Day School, getting to class isn\u2019t always simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cStruggling with health issues, dealing with at home, thinking about the stress of coming to school, things that can trigger them\u2026 bullying\u2026 it could make it a struggle on the way to school,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n
Her experience reflects a broader trend playing out across the state.<\/p>\n
According to a 2024 report from the New York State Comptroller, about one in three students in New York are considered chronically absent\u2014meaning they miss at least 10 percent of the school year. The issue is even more pronounced in large city school districts, where more than half of high school students fall into that category.<\/p>\n
Buffalo Public Schools is one of many districts trying to reverse that trend. Earlier this year, Superintendent Dr. Pascal Mubenga announced a monthly attendance lottery, where students who miss one day or less can be entered to win cash prizes. The program is funded by Say Yes Buffalo, not district dollars.<\/p>\n
WATCH: School attendance struggles persist across Western New York as districts look for solutions<\/p>\n
School attendance struggles persist across Western New York as districts look for solutions<\/p>\n
District leaders say the goal is to rebuild consistent attendance habits, but acknowledge the challenges go far beyond motivation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have parents that work night shift or day shift, and they depend heavily on some of the older siblings to take care of the younger siblings,\u201d said Catrice Shaw-Huff, Buffalo Public Schools\u2019 family engagement supervisor. \u201cI\u2019d be sitting here for a while if I could tell you all the different reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those reasons include housing instability, transportation issues, mental health challenges, and poverty\u2014factors community organizations say are impacting students across the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a really, incredibly high homeless population for students here in Erie County\u2026 mental health challenges, substance use disorder, poverty\u2026 all of those things add up to some of the reasons why students don’t feel safe and engaged in school,\u201d said Tara Burgess, CEO of EPIC \u2013 Every Person Influences Children.<\/p>\n
The consequences of chronic absenteeism can follow students long after they leave the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudent attendance\u2026 impacts their education, their literacy skills, graduation rates, and the types of jobs that they’re able to get,\u201d Burgess said.<\/p>\n
For Collins, solutions start with communication and understanding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s better ways that we can go about it\u2026 just have a sit down talk,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Leaders say reversing attendance trends will take more than one initiative. While programs like Buffalo\u2019s attendance lottery may help encourage some students, many agree a broader, community-wide approach is needed to address the root causes keeping students out of school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AMHERST, N.Y. (WKBW) \u2014 As school attendance rates continue to lag behind pre-pandemic levels, educators and community leaders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,49,51,50,10780,60695,71742,5178],"class_list":["post-206988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-school","tag-school-attendance","tag-school-districts","tag-western-new-york"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}