Absences in Fayette schools have increased across grades since COVID pandemic began, data show

Fayette school absences in 2021-2022, the first year students have fully been back to in-person learning in the pandemic, have increased from 2018-2019, according to district officials.

The 2018-2019 school year was the last before COVID-19 emerged in March 2020 and schools moved to at-home learning for months.

Steve Hill, the Fayette County Public Schools pupil personnel director, told school board members at a Monday meeting that the average daily attendance percentage for 2018-2019 was 94.27. For the 2021-22 school year, it is 91.81.

The breakdown of average daily attendance per grade level is:

• Grades K-5: 2018-2019, 94.76. 2021-2022, 93.86.
• Grades 6-8: 2018-2019, 94.07. 2021-2022, 92.03.
• Grades 9-12: 2018-2019, 91.35. 2021-2022, 88.31.

“We are down at every level,” Hill said.

He said that at a recent statewide meeting of directors of pupil personnel, his counterparts told him their average daily attendance is down 1.5-2.5%.

The problem is also a national one. The Los Angeles Times reported in March that nearly half of Los Angeles Unified public school students have been chronically absent this year.

“After two years of disrupted learning, some families operating on tight margins have struggled to rebuild the habits necessary to help their children attend school every day. And some still fear their child will contract COVID-19 in the classroom,” Education Week reported in April.

A toolkit released by Attendance Works, a national organization dealing with student absenteeism, said current reasons for absences can include anxiety about in-person school, not understanding the impact of absences, family schedules being out-of sync or transportation barriers.