Salem Schools To Target Chronic Absences With Phone Outreach Campaign

SALEM, MA — Chronic absenteeism remains a concerning problem in Salem Public Schools three years after the onset of the COVID-19 health crisis, with school officials planning a phone campaign next week to identify and find solutions for why so many Salem students are still having trouble getting to the classroom consistently.

"Attendance matters," Zrike said in his Facebook Live session with the school community on Wednesday. "I just want to reiterate how important good attendance habits are. We continue to struggle with the level of chronic absenteeism in our district.

"COVID is still around, for sure. But we've struggled to get back to pre-COVID attendance levels. It's crucial that our young people are in school every day. If they're not in school we're not going to be able to move them on academically despite having an excellent teacher."

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education report card said that in 2021 an average of 93.7 percent of students across the state were present in school on a daily basis, compared to 89.9 percent in Salem. The gap was slightly larger than it was pre-pandemic when 94.6 percent of students were in school on a daily average statewide in 2019, with Salem coming in at 91.9 percent.

Zrike did not give an update on this year's numbers on Wednesday but said it was still below that 91.9 percent level from 2019.

"If they are not in school, and are missing more than 10 percent of school days, there is absolutely no way a student is going to be able to stay on grade level or above," Zrike said.

Zrike said at the beginning of this academic year that curing the district's attendance troubles would be a focus and said as part of that process next week school officials will have a phone campaign on March 9 trying to contact families and get to the root of the truancy issue.

"We're not interested in punishing anybody or making people feel bad," Zrike said. "We want to be supportive of how we can try to get your student to school more often.

"We're looking at students who have missed chunks of school this year and how we can get them to school more often. What are the barriers? Are there issues with transportation? Is there an issue with bullying? Is there an issue with needing a wake-up call?

"Whatever it may be, we want to work with you in order to get your child to school consistently."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)