Hinsdale South Chronic Absenteeism Declines

DARIEN, IL – So far this school year, Hinsdale South High School's chronic absenteeism rate is 17 percent, the principal said Thursday.

Last year's rate was 25 percent, according to state records.

The state tracks chronic absenteeism – the rate of students who are absent 10 percent or more of the days in a school year, whether excused or not. For a 180-day year, that means a student missed at least 18 days, or 3½ weeks.

At a school board meeting, South Principal Kari Peronto said the school remained concerned about the issue.

"Hinsdale South has a subset of students who experience more persistent and severe absenteeism because of varying qualifiers," Peronto said.

South's absenteeism, she said, is less about general disengagement and more concentrated on "higher student-need populations who face more complex barriers to attendance."

Hinsdale Central's chronic absenteeism rate last year was 15 percent. At the meeting, Central's principal did not provide a year-to-date equivalent number.

Schools with higher rates of low-income students typically have greater absenteeism. About 25 percent of South's students come from low-income families, compared with 15 percent at Central.

Central Principal Bill Walsh said he was seeking data on the reasons for absences, but he said they tend to be excused rather than unexcused.

"I have speculation about the causes at Central," he said. "I'm not ready to share that and put himself in a hole."

Peronto told the board her school has found a better way to communicate with parents about their children's absences.

"We went old school," she said. "We started sending paper copies of information."

That's because emails alerting parents to absenteeism often get lost in everything else online, she said. Going through the post office has been an effective way to get word to parents, she said.