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Two members of the Detroit school district’s board want to explore what can be done to hold parents accountable for their children missing too many days of school.
Based on trends in the attendance rate so far this school year, Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said at Tuesday night’s board meeting that about 45% of students are projected to be chronically absent by the end of the school year. Students are considered chronically absent when they miss 10% or more days of a school year.
Chronic absenteeism, which negatively impacts students’ ability to learn and progress academically, has long been a problem for DPSCD. High rates of poverty, a lack of transportation, health concerns, and unsafe routes to school are among the leading causes of kids missing too many days of class.
The district has made big strides in reducing absenteeism in recent years. Still, more than 60% of students in the district were chronically absent last school year.
When students are at risk of being chronically absent, the district’s intervention process includes engaging with parents and visiting the kids’ homes. Students are also required to sign an acknowledgement that they know they will be required to attend their neighborhood schools instead of opting to attend district schools outside of their feeder pattern if they miss too many days.
In an effort to solve transportation issues, DPSCD gives students free city bus passes, as the school system does not offer yellow bus service to most high schoolers. Some principals problem-solve for individual students with ride shares or carpools, one school gave its students bikes, and two high schools are piloting yellow buses this year.
In addition to solving transportation barriers and providing wraparound services, board member Monique Bryant asked Vitti what the district can do to address parents who are “not sending their kids to school.”
“I hear we’re working with students, we’re providing transportation, but I just don’t understand how we are not more firm with our parents and their responsibility to get their children to school,” Bryant said to some applause from the crowd at the meeting.
“I think there’s some work for the board to do, and I think now we need to step up more than ever, because we need to be the first people saying parents should be accountable,” said Latrice McClendon, another board member. “We need to be non-negotiable about some of the things that are happening in our district, and we are now outraged and upset about what we’re seeing … It starts with the parents.”
Vitti said during the meeting he believes “it is time to enhance the accountability and engagement” with parents. There are policy or administrative actions the superintendent said he would recommend that would put parents at the center of discussions around attendance, like mandatory in-person or virtual meetings.
“The more extreme cases of absenteeism, we are reporting those to the Wayne County prosecutor’s office, but they are way understaffed, and they are not prosecuting the vast majority of cases that we send them,” said Vitti. “They take the most egregious examples and move forward on those cases, especially for the youngest of children that are extremely absent.”
Bryant said she was not aware that there are cases referred by the district that do not get prosecuted, adding “they should be.”
McClendon said, “We need to personally contact our prosecutor to say, ‘Hey, we need to step up, and we need to do that.’”
Michigan parents can face a misdemeanor charge if they fail to ensure their child attends school. The penalty can range from 90 days in jail and fines between $5 and $50. Parents who get public financial assistance for their children also risk the aid being withheld by the state.
Some research suggests punitive measures do not reduce absenteeism. Officials with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services told Chalkbeat in 2023 they could not provide evidence its penalties for parents of truant kids improved attendance.
During public comment at Tuesday’s meeting, one parent told the board they should focus more on filling in gaps for families without transportation instead of prosecuting them.
McClendon clarified to the speaker that she agreed.
“The goal is never to criminalize parents,” said McClendon. “Accountability is not punishment, it’s partnership.”
The board member added she understands addressing absenteeism requires “empathy and understanding” because of the “complex realities families face.”
“I think the balance is delicate, but it’s necessary,” she said. “I do want to set high standards.”
Vitti said he will provide more information and recommendations on potential policy changes at a future board committee meeting.
Could yellow bus service improve high school attendance?
This school year, DPSCD began piloting yellow bus service for students within the boundaries of Henry Ford High School and East English Village Preparatory Academy at Finney.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Vitti said despite efforts to raise awareness and interest among students, the pilot is “not having a scaled impact” on chronic absenteeism data at either school so far this year. He didn’t say how many students are participating in the yellow bus pilot. The superintendent said there may be a positive impact for individual students and the district will look at whether attendance for kids taking the bus has improved compared to the prior year.
There may also be more use of the buses once the weather becomes colder, Vitti added.
He suggested the board decide early next year whether the pilot should continue based on participation and attendance data.
The schools have sent robo calls and texts about the service, made announcements during school, and offered incentives for ridership.
Anthony Peele, a student representative on the board who attends Henry Ford, said at the meeting that he had surveyed his classmates about why they do or do not use the service.
“A lot of what students replied was that it just wasn’t convenient for them in a lot of different ways,” said Peele.
Some said in the survey they felt the city bus was more convenient, and many said they didn’t know how to check if the yellow bus went to their neighborhood, Peele said.
Because the district received more state funding than was anticipated in its adopted budget for this school year, Vitti said there is some opportunity to expand transportation options.
Vitti said he would not recommend using the funds to add more yellow bus services, saying ride shares for targeted students or small groups of classmates who are missing too many days of school may be more effective and cost efficient.
The “big picture” solution to the problem is for the city to expand its transportation offerings. That has been successful for other large urban districts in the U.S. in improving attendance, Vitti said.
The district’s long-term goal is to “have more children attend their neighborhood school,” Vitti said, which would result in students traveling shorter distances.
About 50% of DPSCD students currently attend schools in their neighborhood, said Vitti.
“That will happen if we continue to improve neighborhood schools, which we are, and the data suggests that,” said Vitti.
Hannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.
