York High's Chronic Absenteeism Spikes

ELMHURST, IL – Chronic absenteeism rose dramatically last school year at Elmhurst's York High School.

The state tracks 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.

According to the data, 37 percent of York students were chronically absent last school year, up from 22 percent the previous year. The rate was 10 percent in 2019 and 2020.

At a recent meeting, school board members said absenteeism was a concern in local schools.

Similarly wealthy high schools such as Hinsdale Central and Lyons Township have also seen increases in recent years. But their rates were lower than York's last year – 21 percent at Hinsdale Central and 24 percent at Lyons Township.

Even Villa Park's Willowbrook High School, with nearly twice the percentage of low-income students, had a lower rate of chronic absenteeism, at 31 percent last school year. In previous years, Willowbrook reported higher rates than York.

Other nearby schools with higher low-income rates saw considerably more students who were chronically absent last year – 84 percent at Proviso West in Hillside and 44 percent at Fenton in Bensenville.

CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM

Here are the percentages of students who missed at least 10 percent of days in a school year with or without a valid excuse:

York High School (Elmhurst)
2023 37%
2022 22%
2021 7%
2020 10%
2019 10%
2018 15%

Hinsdale South High School (Darien)
2023 26%
2022 23%
2021 17%
2020 10%
2019 17%
2018 16%

Hinsdale Central High School (Hinsdale)
2023 21%
2022 20%
2021 6%
2020 6%
2019 9%
2018 13%

Lyons Township High School (La Grange)
2023 24%
2022 28%
2021 6%
2020 6%
2019 13%
2018 11%

Willowbrook High School (Villa Park)
2023 31%
2022 35%
2021 27%
2020 17%
2019 26%
2018 22%

Proviso West High School (Hillside)
2023 84%
2022 51%
2021 27%
2020 66%
2019 49%
2018 26%

Fenton High School (Bensenville)
2023 44%
2022 47%
2021 35%
2020 23%
2019 27%
2018 11%

Source: Illinois Report Card