Less than 50 percent of students who enter Baltimore City high schools graduate. Part of the reason for that could be that many of them don?t show up very often.
Examiner Staff Writer Ron Cassie reports that 30 percent, about 25,000 children, at all grade levels, miss more than 20 days of school each year with unexcused absences.
The numbers are worse in high school, where 50 percent of students miss more than 20 days of school.
That?s about a month of missed classes.
To combat the problem, the University of Baltimore School of Law started a program in a small group of schools to stop absenteeism through a truancy court. Law students, faculty and a group from the child?s school meet with children who miss too much school and their caregivers once a week for 10 weeks to find out why they are truant and how they can prevent it.
It works.
A principal at one of the schools said he?s seen a 90 percent improvement in the behavior of children who participate.
Things as simple as arranging for rides to school or giving alarm clocks to children whose parents go to work early have helped to spur the improvement.
The law school wants to expand its program to more schools.
Administrators should jump at the chance.
Teaching children the importance of going to school regularly sets a precedent for how they must act in their working lives. No one will spend the time and effort to make sure they go to work. Employers need people to show up. They fire those who do not.
More time in the classroom also means more time learning ? which can?t hurt test scores.
Lawyers throughout the city should consider adding this program to their pro bono work to help the law school expand its reach.
If this works, Baltimore could serve as a model for other school systems dealing with the same issue instead of a pariah.
